Psychiatry Investig.  2017 May;14(3):344-349. 10.4306/pi.2017.14.3.344.

Decreased Expression of α-Synuclein, Nogo-A and UCH-L1 in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Preliminary Serum Study

• Demirel ÃF
• Cetin Ä
• Turan Å
• SaÄŸlam T
• Yıldız N
• Duran A

• KMID: 2378650
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2017.14.3.344

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
α-synuclein, Nogo-A and Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) have neuromodulatory roles for human brain. Therefore, abnormalities of these molecules are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Although some serum studies in the other disorders have been made, serum study of α-synuclein, Nogo-A and UCH-L1 is not present in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Therefore, our aim was to compare serum levels of α-synuclein, Nogo-A and UCH-L1 of the patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.
METHODS
Forty-four patients with schizophrenia who is followed by psychotic disorders unit, and 40 healthy control were included in this study. Socio-demographic form and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was applied to patients, and sociodemographic form was applied to control group. Fasting bloods were collected and the serum levels of α-synuclein, Nogo-A and UCH-L1 were measured by ELISA method.
RESULTS
Serum α-synuclein [patient: 12.73 (5.18-31.84) ng/mL; control: 41.77 (15.12-66.98) ng/mL], Nogo-A [patient: 33.58 (3.09-77.26) ng/mL; control: 286.05 (136.56-346.82) ng/mL] and UCH-L1 [patient: 5.26 (1.64-10.87) ng/mL; control: 20.48 (11.01-20.81) ng/mL] levels of the patients with schizophrenia were significianly lower than healthy controls (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION
Our study results added new evidence for explaining the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia on the basis of neurochemical markers.

Keyword

α-synuclein; Nogo-A; UCH-L1; Schizophrenia; Biomarkers

MeSH Terms

Biomarkers
Brain
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Fasting
Humans
Methods
Psychotic Disorders
Schizophrenia*
Ubiquitin Thiolesterase
Biomarkers
Ubiquitin Thiolesterase