Biochemical and molecular studies on Egyptian patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe and chronic forms of mental illness. A complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors appears to be critical in its pathogenesis. Ranking among the ten most frequent causes of disability in developed countries, schizophrenia affects roughly one percent of the world’s population.

The current psychiatric classification systems, the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10), and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition (DSM-IV), base the diagnosis of schizophrenia exclusively on its clinical symptomatology. These clinical symptoms include positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions, negative symptoms like anhedonia, avolition and social withdrawal as well as thought disorder. Now, this phenomenological diagnostic approach is without an alternative due to a lack of clear biological markers for the disorder.

The goals of this study were to examine the association of BDNF & MMP-9 genetic polymorphisms, oxidative

stress levels, immune activation and inflammatory cytokines with the pathogenesis & severity of schizophrenia.

This study included forty-four schizophrenic patients together with fifty healthy control subjects.

Ten milliliters of venous blood samples were collected from patients and healthy controls. Each blood sample was divided into the following portions: a) Two ml of blood was collected on EDTA coated tube for DNA extraction and genotyping studies of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) & matrix metalloproteinase- 9 (MMP-9).

b) The rest of blood sample was kept in clean glass tube without additives to clot at 37 ºC for 10 minutes, and then centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes. The serum were then separated into aliquots and stored at -20 ºC to be thawed only once on demand for the determination of biochemical investigations.