Journal Article

A myelin gene causative of a catatonia‐depression syndrome upon aging

Kästner, Anne, Ehrenreich, Hannelore, Hagemeyer, Nora, Boretius, Susann, Gerwig, Ulrike C., Frahm, Jens, Heckers, Stephan H., Gurvich, Artem, Goebbels, Sandra, Begemann, Martin, Wieser, Georg L., Papiol, Sergi, Nave, Klaus‐Armin, Hofer, Sabine, Ronnenberg, Anja

2012

Overview

Severe mental illnesses have been linked to white matter abnormalities, documented by postmortem studies. However, cause and effect have remained difficult to distinguish. CNP (2′,3′‐cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphodiesterase) is among the oligodendrocyte/myelin‐associated genes most robustly reduced on mRNA and protein level in brains of schizophrenic, bipolar or major depressive patients. This suggests that CNP reduction might be critical for a more general disease process and not restricted to a single diagnostic category. We show here that reduced expression of CNP is the primary cause of a distinct behavioural phenotype, seen only upon aging as an additional ‘pro‐inflammatory hit’. This phenotype is strikingly similar in Cnp heterozygous mice and patients with mental disease carrying the AA genotype at CNP SNP rs2070106. The characteristic features in both species with their partial CNP ‘loss‐of‐function’ genotype are best described as ‘catatonia‐depression’ syndrome. As a consequence of perturbed CNP expression, mice show secondary low‐grade inflammation/neurodegeneration. Analogously, in man, diffusion tensor imaging points to axonal loss in the frontal corpus callosum. To conclude, subtle white matter abnormalities inducing neurodegenerative changes can cause/amplify psychiatric diseases.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,WILEY‐VCH Verlag,EMBO Press,WILEY-VCH Verlag
• Subject: 2',3'-Cyclic Nucleotide 3'-Phosphodiesterase / Adult / Aged / Aging / Aging - pathology / Animals / anxiety / axonal degeneration / Bipolar disorder / Brain - diagnostic imaging / Brain - pathology / Brain research / Catatonia / Catatonia - genetics / Catatonia - physiopathology / Corpus callosum / Data analysis / Depression - genetics / Depression - physiopathology / diffusion tensor imaging / Disease / Female / Genes / Genotype & phenotype / Genotypes / Humans / Immunohistochemistry / Inflammation / low‐grade inflammation / Magnetic resonance imaging / Male / Mental depression / Mental disorders / Mice / Microscopy / Middle Aged / mRNA / Myelin / Neurodegeneration / Neuroimaging / Phenotypes / Phosphodiesterase / Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases - genetics / Polymorphism / Radiography / Research Article / Schizophrenia / Single-nucleotide polymorphism / Social research / social withdrawal / Studies / Substantia alba