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Patients with schizophrenia often have gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system deficits in neurons in the prefrontal cortex, most prominently in neurons containing the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin and the neuropeptide somatostatin. The specification, migration, and maturation of these neurons are mediated by specific mRNA transcription factors, notably Lhx6. To learn more about these relationships, investigators conducted a series of studies.
In a postmortem examination of brains from 42 patients with schizophrenia and 42 controls, mean mRNA levels of parvalbumin, somatostatin, and Lhx6 in specific areas of prefrontal cortex were lower in the schizophrenia group. These differences were not seen in every patient. Instead, the low GABA ma…