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Nkcc1 to Kcc2 Mrna Ratio in Schizophrenia and Its Psychopathology: A Case–Control Study Publisher Pubmed



Mohaghghegh H1 ; Ananloo ES1, 2, 3, 4 ; Hadjighasem M1, 5 ; Karimipour M6 ; Hashemizadeh S7 ; Abhari SAA8, 9
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Study, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex (IKHC), School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. Sleep Research Center, Baharloo Hospital, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. National Brain Mapping Center, University of Tehran (UT), Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  6. 6. Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
  7. 7. Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Study, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  8. 8. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran
  9. 9. Psychiatry and Psychology Research Center, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran

Source: Journal of Molecular Neuroscience Published:2022


Abstract

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a debilitating, destructive, and chronic mental disorder and affects approximately one percent of the human population. Diagnosis in psychiatry is based on the patient’s descriptions of his/her symptoms, interviewer’s observations, history of disorder over time, and response to treatment. All of these data measure phenotype-based functions. But it appears that accurate diagnosis of such a complex disorder must be based on valid and reliable factors. In the present study, gene selection was based on the possible role of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in psychopathology of SCZ and expression in blood. We evaluated the association of Na+-K+-Cl− co-transporter 1 (NKCC1) and K+-Cl− co-transporter 2 (KCC2) genes’ messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels, and also the NKCC1/KCC2 ratio with positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) scores in an SCZ group. By using real-time PCR (RT-PCR), the present study is the first attempt to explore levels of NKCC1 and KCC2 expression at mRNA level and their relative expression in human peripheral blood of patients with SCZ. Our results showed that the NKCC1 to KCC2 mRNA ratio is significantly increased (but based on the delta cycle of threshold [∆Ct] is significantly lower) in the total sample of cases rather than controls (p = 0.045) and also higher in male sample cases rather than male controls (p = 0.016). In female samples, we found a trend toward a significant effect between the case and control participants (p = 0.075). We also found statistically significant association between mRNA of NKCC1 and KCC2 genes and NKCC1/KCC2 mRNA ratio with the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) scores. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.