Sex differences in the serum level of endogenous ligands for estrogen receptor beta in the elderly population

Animal studies suggest that estrogen receptor beta (ER beta)-agonists, but not ER alpha-agonists, are antidepressants. Several endogenous ligands for ER beta have been proposed, including 5 alpha-androstane-3 beta,17 beta-diol (3 beta Adiol), Androstenediol (Delta 5-diol), and 7 alpha-hydroxydehydroepiandrosterone (7 alpha-OH-DHEA). The aim of this study was to determine the serum and salivary levels of natural ER beta ligands in men and women with and without past depressive episodes in the elderly population. DHEA (a precursor of 3 beta Adiol, Delta 5-diol, and 7 alpha-OH-DHEA), 17 beta-estradiol (E2), and cortisol (F) were also measured. Samples were collected from 51 subjects and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used for measurement. Comparisons were made between groups based on sex and depression history. E2, 3 beta Adiol, and Delta 5-diol levels were significantly lower in women than in men regardless of depression history. There were no significant differences between men and women in DHEA or 7 alpha-OH-DHEA levels. DHEA was significantly lower in women with depression than in women without depression. Reduced DHEA levels may be related to depression vulnerability in women. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanism underlying sex differences in the prevalence of depression and increased risk of depression during menopause. Not only E2 but also two other estrogenic steroids (3 beta Adiol and Delta 5-diol) should be involved in these studies.ArticleSCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6:25878 (2016)journal articl

Association study of the vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) gene with schizophrenia in a Japanese population

BACKGROUND: Vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) mediate accumulation of monoamines such as serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline from the cytoplasm into storage organelles. The VMAT1 (alternatively solute carrier family 18: SLC18A1) regulates such biogenic amines in neuroendocrine systems. The VMAT1 gene maps to chromosome 8p21.3, a locus with strong evidence of linkage with schizophrenia. A recent study reported that a non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the gene (Pro4Thr) was associated with schizophrenia. METHODS: We attempted to replicate this finding in a Japanese sample of 354 schizophrenics and 365 controls. In addition, we examined 3 other non-synonymous SNPs (Thr98Ser, Thr136Ile, and Val392Leu). Genotyping was performed by the TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in genotype or allele distribution of the three SNPs of Pro4Thr, Thr136Ile, or Val392Leu between patients and controls. There was, however, a significant difference in genotype and allele distributions for the Thr98Ser polymorphism between the two groups (P = 0.01 for genotype and allele). When sexes were examined separately, significant differences were observed in females (P = 0.006 for genotype, P = 0.003 for allele), but not in males. The Thr98 allele was more common in female patients than in female controls (odds ratio 1.69, 95% CI 1.19–2.40, P = 0.003). Haplotype-based analyses also provided evidence for a significant association in females. CONCLUSION: We failed to replicate the previously reported association of Pro4Thr of the VMAT1 gene with schizophrenia. However, we obtained evidence for a possible role of the Thr98Ser in giving susceptibility to schizophrenia in women

Negative correlation between cerebrospinal fluid oxytocin levels and negative symptoms of male patients with schizophrenia

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that oxytocin plays an important role in social interactions. Previous studies also suggest altered oxytocin function in patients with schizophrenia and depression. However, few studies have examined the central oxytocin levels in these disorders. Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oxytocin levels were measured by ELISA in male participants consisting of 27 patients with schizophrenia, 17 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 21 healthy controls. Results: CSF oxytocin levels of patients with schizophrenia or MDD did not differ significantly with healthy controls. The antidepressant dose or the Hamilton depression rating scale score did not significantly correlate with the oxytocin levels in MDD patients. CSF oxytocin levels in schizophrenic patients significantly negatively correlated with second generation antipsychotic dose (r=-0.49, P=0.010) but not with first generation antipsychotic dose (r=-0.13, P=0.50). A significant correlation was observed between oxytocin levels and negative subscale of PANSS (r=-0.38, P=0.050). This correlation remained significant even after controlling for second generation antipsychotic dose (r=-0.47, P=0.016). Conclusions: We obtained no evidence of altered CSF oxytocin levels in patients with schizophrenia or those with MDD. However, lower oxytocin levels may be related to higher second generation antipsychotic dose and more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia.ArticleSCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH. 139(1-3):201-206 (2012)journal articl

Increased cerebrospinal fluid interleukin-6 levels in patients with schizophrenia and those with major depressive disorder

信州大学博士（医学）・学位論文・平成25年3月31日授与（甲第944号）・篠山 大明Elevated peripheral levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) are common findings in schizophrenia and depression. However, previous studies that measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-6 levels in these disorders reported controversial results. The present study examined whether CSF IL-6 levels are altered in patients with schizophrenia and those with depression. Lumbar punctures were performed in 32 patients with schizophrenia, 30 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 35 healthy controls. Serum samples were simultaneously collected from all subjects in the patient groups and from 32 of the control group. CSF and serum IL-6 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Both the patients with schizophrenia and MDD had significantly higher CSF IL-6 levels compared to the controls (schizophrenia: P = 0.0027; MDD: P = 0.012). IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the CSF than in the serum. No significant correlation was observed between CSF and serum IL-6 levels. The present findings suggest that IL-6 of central origin is associated with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and MDD, although confounding effect of smoking status can not be entirely excluded. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.ArticleJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH. 47(3):401-406 (2013)journal articl

Biochemical classification of tauopathies by immunoblot, protein sequence and mass spectrometric analyses of sarkosyl-insoluble and trypsin-resistant tau

Intracellular filamentous tau pathology is the defining feature of tauopathies, which form a subset of neurodegenerative diseases. We have analyzed pathological tau in Alzheimer’s disease, and in frontotemporal lobar degeneration associated with tauopathy to include cases with Pick bodies, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, and ones due to intronic mutations in MAPT. We found that the C-terminal band pattern of the pathological tau species is distinct for each disease. Immunoblot analysis of trypsin-resistant tau indicated that the different band patterns of the 7–18 kDa fragments in these diseases likely reflect different conformations of tau molecular species. Protein sequence and mass spectrometric analyses revealed the carboxyl-terminal region (residues 243–406) of tau comprises the protease-resistant core units of the tau aggregates, and the sequence lengths and precise regions involved are different among the diseases. These unique assembled tau cores may be used to classify and diagnose disease strains. Based on these results, we propose a new clinicopathological classification of tauopathies based on the biochemical properties of tau

Association of schizophrenia onset age and white matter integrity with treatment effect of D-cycloserine : a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study

Background: It has been reported that drugs which promote the N-Methyl-D-aspartate-type glutamate receptor function by stimulating the glycine modulatory site in the receptor improve negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia patients being treated with antipsychotic drugs. Methods: We performed a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study involving 41 schizophrenia patients in which D-cycloserine 50 mg/day was added-on, and the influence of the onset age and association with white matter integrity on MR diffusion tensor imaging were investigated for the first time. The patients were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS), and other scales. Results: D-cycloserine did not improve positive or negative symptoms or cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. The investigation in consideration of the onset age suggests that D-cycloserine may aggravate negative symptoms of early-onset schizophrenia. The better treatment effect of D-cycloserine on BACS was observed when the white matter integrity of the sagittal stratum/ cingulum/fornix stria terminalis/genu of corpus callosum/external capsule was higher, and the better treatment effect on PANSS general psychopathology (PANSS-G) was observed when the white matter integrity of the splenium of corpus callosum was higher. In contrast, the better treatment effect of D-cycloserine on PANSS-G and SANS-IV were observed when the white matter integrity of the posterior thalamic radiation (left) was lower. Conclusion: It was suggested that response to D-cycloserine is influenced by the onset age and white matter integrity

Close association of water channel AQP1 with amyloid-β deposition in Alzheimer disease brains

Aquaporin-1 (AQP1), a membrane water channel protein, is expressed exclusively in the choroid plexus epithelium in the central nervous system under physiological conditions. However, AQP1 expression is enhanced in reactive astrocytes, accumulating in brain lesions of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and multiple sclerosis, suggesting a role of AQP1-expressing astrocytes in brain water homeostasis under pathological conditions. To clarify a pathological implication of AQP1 in Alzheimer disease (AD), we investigated the possible relationship between amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition and astrocytic AQP1 expression in the motor cortex and hippocampus of 11 AD patients and 16 age-matched other neurological disease cases. In all cases, AQP1 was expressed exclusively in a subpopulation of multipolar fibrillary astrocytes. The great majority of AQP1-expressing astrocytes were located either on the top of or in close proximity to Aβ plaques in AD brains but not in non-AD cases, whereas those independent of Aβ deposition were found predominantly in non-AD brains. By Western blot, cultured human astrocytes constitutively expressed AQP1, and the levels of AQP1 protein expression were not affected by exposure to Aβ1-42 peptide, but were elevated by hypertonic sodium chloride. By immunoprecipitation, the C-terminal fragment-beta (CTFβ) of amyloid precursor protein interacted with the N-terminal half of AQP1 spanning the transmembrane helices H1, H2 and H3. These observations suggest the possible association of astrocytic AQP1 with Aβ deposition in AD brains

Criterion and Construct Validity of the CogState Schizophrenia Battery in Japanese Patients with Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: The CogState Schizophrenia Battery (CSB), a computerized cognitive battery, covers all the same cognitive domains as the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery but is briefer to conduct. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the criterion and construct validity of the Japanese language version of the CSB (CSB-J) in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Forty Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 40 Japanese healthy controls with matching age, gender, and premorbid intelligence quotient were enrolled. The CSB-J and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, Japanese-language version (BACS-J) were performed once. The structure of the CSB-J was also evaluated by a factor analysis. Similar to the BACS-J, the CSB-J was sensitive to cognitive impairment in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between the CSB-J composite score and the BACS-J composite score. A factor analysis showed a three-factor model consisting of memory, speed, and social cognition factors. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study suggests that the CSB-J is a useful and rapid automatically administered computerized battery for assessing broad cognitive domains in Japanese patients with schizophrenia

Molecular Network Analysis Suggests Aberrant CREB-Mediated Gene Regulation in the Alzheimer Disease Hippocampus

The pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD) involves the complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors affecting multiple cellular pathways. Recent advances in systems biology provide a system-level understanding of AD by elucidating the genome-wide molecular interactions. By using KeyMolnet, a bioinformatics tool for analyzing molecular interactions on the curated knowledgebase, we characterized molecular network of 2,883 all stages of AD-related genes (ADGs) and 559 incipient AD-related genes (IADGs) identified by global gene expression profiling of the hippocampal CA1 region of AD brains in terms of significant clinical and pathological correlations (Blalock et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 2173-2178, 2004). By the common upstream search, KeyMolnet identified cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) as the principal transcription factor exhibiting the most significant relevance to molecular networks of both ADGs and IADGs. The CREB-regulated transcriptional network included upregulated and downregulated sets of ADGs and IADGs, suggesting an involvement of generalized deregulation of the CREB signaling pathway in the pathophysiology of AD, beginning at the early stage of the disease. To verify the in silico observations in vivo, we conducted immunohistochemical studies of 11 AD and 13 age-matched control brains by using anti-phoshorylated CREB (pCREB) antibody. An abnormal accumulation of pCREB imunoreactivity was identified in granules of granulovacuolar degeneration (GVD) in the hippocampal neurons of AD brains. These observations suggest that aberrant CREB-mediated gene regulation serves as a molecular biomarker of AD-related pathological processes, and support the hypothesis that sequestration of pCREB in GVD granules is in part responsible for deregulation of CREB-mediated gene expression in AD hippocampus