Studies on the altered expression of genes in the autopsy brain of people with schizophrenia

为了研究精神分裂症患者脑组织中基因表达的变化，我们采用基因表达监测技术，比较了从对照组和精神分裂症组中随机抽取的额叶皮层各含4个RNA样本的两组池。我们发现，在四个两两比较中，两个基因的表达普遍改变；与对照组相比，精神分裂症组DEAD-box蛋白p基因表达升高，神经肽Y （NPY）基因表达降低。为了证实这些结果，我们在精神分裂症、双相情感障碍、重度抑郁症和正常对照组的四个匹配组的每个额叶或颞叶皮层的15个样本中，用实时TaqMan方法估计了它们的mRNA水平。在精神分裂症组中，NPY在额叶皮层有显著下降，而在颞叶皮层无显著下降（p = 0.003）。双相情感障碍组的额叶皮质也有下降（p = 0.031）。相比之下，p72基因表达在四组间无显著差异。总之，通过新的DNA阵列技术和TaqMan PCR分析，我们发现精神分裂症和双相情感障碍患者额叶皮层神经肽Y mRNA水平显著降低。

To study the change of gene expression in the brain tissues of schizophrenia, we used the gene expression monitoring technology and compared two sets of pools containing each four RNA samples of frontal cortex that were randomly selected from the control or schizophrenia group. We found that the expression of two genes were commonly altered in four pairwise comparisons; the expression of DEAD-box protein p gene was increased and neuropeptide Y (NPY) gene expression was decreased in the schizophrenia group compared with the control group. To substantiate these results, we estimated their mRNA levels by the real time TaqMan method in the 15 samples of each frontal or temporal cortex of four matched groups of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and normal control. A statistically significant decrease was observed for NPY in the frontal, but not in the temporal, cortex in the schizophrenia group (p = 0.003). A decrease was also observed in the frontal cortex of the bipolar disorder group (p = 0.031). In contrast, p72 gene expression showed no significant difference among the four groups. In conclusion, by novel technology of DNA array and TaqMan PCR analyses, we found that neuropeptide Y mRNA levels were significantly reduced in the frontal cortex in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.