title: Utility and validity of DISC1 mouse models in biological psychiatry.
abstract: We have seen an era of explosive progress in translating neurobiology into etiological understanding of mental disorders for the past 10-15 years. The discovery of Disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene was one of the major driving forces that have contributed to the progress. The finding that DISC1 plays crucial roles in neurodevelopment and synapse regulation clearly underscored the utility and validity of DISC1-related biology in advancing our understanding of pathophysiological processes underlying psychiatric conditions. Despite recent genetic studies that failed to identify DISC1 as a risk gene for sporadic cases of schizophrenia, DISC1 mutant mice, coupled with various environmental stressors, have proven successful in satisfying face validity as models of a wide range of human psychiatric conditions. Investigating mental disorders using these models is expected to further contribute to the circuit-level understanding of the pathological mechanisms, as well as to the development of novel therapeutic strategies in the future.
authors.affiliation: Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Electronic address: tomoda@tk.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomoda
authors.affiliation: Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sumitomo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jaaro-Peled
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Electronic address: asawa1@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
chemical_list: C498794:Disc1 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
keywords: DISC1; mouse models; psychiatry