GE'd Schizophrenic Mice

by ScienceDave | July 30, 2007 at 09:13 am

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Yes, scientists have finally produced the first strain of mentally ill mice (although not the first strain of mentally disabled mice - click here) - their illness: schizophrenia, a form of psychosis.

Schizophrenia affects 1.1% of people in the United States, and can be characterized by three broad categories of symptoms (NIMH):

Positive Symptoms: unusual thoughts, hallucinations, delusions, movement disorders
Negative Symptoms: loss of ability to speak, plan, express emotion
Cognitive Symptoms: problems with attention, memory, and other functions

Genetically modifed mice, like many other organisms, are used to help model different processes and thus further our basic understanding of how 'biology' works. By combining genetic information, and the physiological or 'phenotypical" response (what we can see or measure due to the action of a particular gene), scientists are able to predict the function of similar genes and groups of genes in various other orgnaisms without actually working on them (for example, humans). These model organisms are chosen for their ease in handling, growing, and sometimes just by chance (eg. the flatworm).

Examples of model organisms include E. coli for bacteria, baker's yeast for eukaryotes, A. thaliana for large plants, C. reinhardtii for single celled algae, and of course the house mouse for mammals.

The genetically engineered mice were created by injecting a gene, isolated from a Scottish family known to have a high incidence of schizophrenia, into a mouse egg. The eggs were then fertilized and grown inside surrogate mother mice. Upon inspection of the mouses' brains, it was determined that they very likely suffered from the same affliction as their human brethren.

The mice were created by modifying their DNA to mimic a mutant gene first found in a Scottish family with a high incidence of schizophrenia, which affects about one in every 100 people. The mice’s brains were found to have features similar to those of humans with schizophrenia, such as depression and hyperactivity.

“These mutant mice may provide an important new tool for further study of the combinations of factors that underlie mental illnesses like schizophrenia and mood disorders,” said Takatoshi Hikida, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a leading researcher.

Animal rights activists are up in arms over the development.

Animal rights campaigners have condemned the research, saying that it is morally repugnant to create an animal doomed to mental suffering...

...Animal Aid, a campaign group, said rodents were not a reliable way of modelling human disease.

Here are some comments from Times readers...

Not only are these experiments scientifically unreliable in predicting effects in humans, but there are many non-animal alternatives that offer a cheaper, quicker and more accurate solution.

The only things that prevent change are the lack of political will to actively seek alternatives and the vested interests that take the path of least resistance. A change of hearts and minds is needed.

S. K., Geneva, Switzerland

I cannot think of a single major breakthrough that was produced as a result of an animal experiment. I wonder how many more million animals have to be sacrificed before we abandon the useless and barbaric practice of animal experimentation.'
- Dr Vernon Coleman, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

S, Birsbane, Australia

I have a mental illness... I applaud this groundbreaking research. It's amazing that they have isolated this gene... I hope they continue working on this until they find a cure for such things.

Bravo!

Oh, and P.S. - would you rather them conduct experiements on humans?! How else would they accomplish this? ridiculous.

Hannah, Somerville, NJ

On a side note, its interesting to note the recent discovery that cannabis use increases the incidence rate of psychosis (click here to see NowPublic Article). Might these mice be used to help flesh out the claims made by the research using verifiable physiological evidence for cannabis as a causal agent for psychosis?

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