Philadelphia, February 4, 2010- Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
affect tens of millions of individuals around the world. These
disorders have a typical onset in the early twenties and in most cases
have a chronic or recurring course. Neither disorder has an objective
biological marker than can be used to make diagnoses or to guide
treatment.
Findings in Biological Psychiatry, published
by Elsevier suggest that electroretinography (ERG), a specialized
measure of retinal function might be a useful biomarker of risk for
these disorders, and retinal deficits may contribute to the perceptual
problems associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Over
the past several years, research has suggested that cognitive
impairments in schizophrenia might be linked to early stages of visual
perception. This work is now drawing attention to the function of the
retina, the component of the eye that detects light. Within the retina,
rods are light sensors that respond to black and white, but not to
color. Rods are particularly important for maintaining vision under
conditions of low light and for detecting stimuli at the periphery of
vision. Cones are light sensors that detect color and perceive stimuli
at the center of vision.
Using ERG, Canadian researchers
Marc Hébert, Michel Maziade and their colleagues observed that the
ability of light to activate rods was significantly reduced in
currently healthy individuals who descended from multigenerational
families that had members diagnosed with either schizophrenia or
bipolar disorder. In contrast, the response of their cones to light was
normal.
"We take for granted that other people experience
the world in the same way that we do. It is important to appreciate
that for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as for colorblindness or
selective hearing loss, people who appear to perceive the world
normally may actually have subtle but important problems with
perception, which may contribute to other adaptive impairments,"
comments Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
Scientists
are still searching for a valid biomarker for the heritable risk for
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Although the current data are
interesting, extensive testing is still needed before the utility of
this measure as a risk biomarker can be evaluated.
###
Notes to Editors:
The article is "Retinal Response to Light in Young Nonaffected
Offspring at High Genetic Risk of Neuropsychiatric Brain Disorders" by
Marc Hébert, Anne-Marie Gagné, Marie-Eve Paradis, Valérie Jomphe,
Marc-André Roy, Chantal Mérette, and Michel Maziade. All authors are
affiliated with Centre de recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard,
Québec, Canada. The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 67, Issue 3 (February 1, 2010), published by Elsevier.
The authors' disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John
H. Krystal, M.D. is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the
Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the
VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and
conflicts of interests are available at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/webfiles/images/journals/bps/Biological_Psychiatry_Editorial_Disclosures_08_01_09.pdf.
Full text of the article mentioned above is available upon request. Contact Maureen Hunter at m.hunter@elsevier.com to obtain a copy or to schedule an interview.
About Biological Psychiatry
This international rapid-publication journal is the official journal
of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. It covers a broad range of
topics in psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics. Both basic and
clinical contributions are encouraged from all disciplines and research
areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major
neuropsychiatric disorders. Full-length and Brief Reports of novel
results, Commentaries, Case Studies of unusual significance, and
Correspondence and Comments judged to be of high impact to the field
are published, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental
risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new
therapeutic approaches. Concise Reviews and Editorials that focus on
topics of current research and interest are also published rapidly.
Biological Psychiatry (www.sobp.org/journal)
is ranked 4th out of the 101 Psychiatry titles and 14th out of 219
Neurosciences titles on the 2008 ISI Journal Citations Reports®
published by Thomson Scientific.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and
medical information products and services. The company works in
partnership with the global science and health communities to publish
more than 2,000 journals, including the Lancet (www.thelancet.com) and Cell (www.cell.com),
and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from
Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com), Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (www.reedelsevier.com),
a world-leading publisher and information provider. The ticker symbols
are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL
(New York Stock Exchange).