title: CSF SNAP-25 in schizophrenia and bipolar illness. A pilot study.
abstract: Research efforts to identify and understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and bipolar illness are limited by the inability to study neuronal tissue of living patients. An alternative to sampling brain tissue from living patients is to measure neuronal proteins found in cerebral spinal fluid. One such candidate protein is synaptosomal-associated protein 25kDa. Our hypothesis is that the level of this protein in cerebral spinal fluid may be a marker of neuronal pathology. Cerebral spinal fluid from headache, schizophrenic, bipolar, and control subjects was used to measure the SNAP-25 level by quantitative dot blotting. Schizophrenic subjects had significantly elevated levels of SNAP-25 as compared to headache and control subjects. However, there was no significant difference between the bipolar group and schizophrenic or control groups. This study reports on a potentially useful clinical marker in schizophrenia, and the presence of elevated cerebral spinal fluid SNAP-25 may indicate alterations in neuronal functioning.
authors.affiliation: Mood Disorders Research Unit, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosenberger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qualls
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D050825:Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C494208:SNAP25 protein, human; D050825:Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25