Analysis of almost 1000 proteins in the stem cells of schizophrenia
patients has indicated that their cellular machinery for making new
proteins is reduced, with the rate of protein synthesis greatly impaired.
“Proteins are the workhorses of all cells and make up most of a
cell’s structure and functions,” says Em/Prof Alan Mackay-Sim of
Griffith University. “Cells live in a very dynamic environment and
protein synthesis, which is so important for brain development, func-
tion and learning, is impacted by environmental and genetic factors.
“It is now becoming clearer that many small genetic variants are
linked because they share control of cellular functions, in this case
protein synthesis. If protein synthesis is altered even slightly, many cell
functions would also be subtly changed. This could affect brain devel-
opment and adult brain function in schizophrenia.
Mackay-Sim said the research, published inTranslational
Psychiatry(tinyurl.com/ns79wyl), “helps make sense of the rapid
advances in genetics that have identified hundreds of risk genes for
schizophrenia”.
The same issue ofTranslational Psychiatryreports contrasting
findings from a second research collaboration involving Mackay-Sim
that examined induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) in people with
schizophrenia. These iPS cells are genetically engineered from skin cells
and stimulated to turn into stem cells resembling neural progenitor
cells, which give rise to the brain in the developing human embryo.
When the proteins from iPS cells were analysed, the patients’ cellswere found to have more protein-making machinery and also made
proteins more quickly than cells in healthy controls.
“However, while on the surface this seems like a contradiction,
the two studies support each other by showing that the regulation of
protein synthesis is subtly disturbed in the cells of people with schiz-
ophrenia,” Mackay-Sim says. “The studies seem to show that the
on/off switch for protein synthesis may be altered in different cells
or at different life stages in schizophrenia. This provides many ways
in which brain development and function is altered in schizophrenia,
and many routes for the ways in which genes and the environment
interact to cause schizophrenia.”JAN/FEB 2016|| 7Subscribe Online
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http://www.austscience.comCompiled by Guy NolchSchizophrenia’s Slow Cells
Prof Alan Mackay-SimA study into how women choose sperm
donors online has revealed that men who are
intellectual, shy, calm and methodical are
selected to produce more children rather than
those who are extroverted.
“Worldwide demand for sperm donors is
so great, an informal online market has
emerged in which offspring are being
produced outside of the more formal fertility
clinic setting,” said Mr Stephen Whyte of
Queensland University of Technology.
“You would expect in an online setting,
men would have to sell or promote them-
selves to women, and extroverted men should
be better at doing that. But what we find is
actually the opposite.“In what we believe is the first study to
include males who are donating purely
through unregulated websites and forums,
we interviewed and collected data from 56
men. This online donor market works quite
differently to fertility clinics in that it facili-
tates more interaction between the recipient
and the donor. This allows us to explore indi-
vidual donor personality characteristics and
how likely they are to be chosen by women as
their donor.
“Women were far less likely to choose the
sperm of fretful or socially awkward men but
at the same time those with lively, extroverted
personalities were also less successful in being
chosen.”The participants for the study, which has
been published in Applied Economic Letters
(tinyurl.com/oegemfg), were aged between
23 and 66 and were from Australia, Canada,
the UK, Italy, Sweden and the USA. Data
were collected via online surveys of regulated
(paid), semi-regulated and unregulated (free)
online sperm donation forums and websites.
“Research has previously shown humans
are good at judging personality traits as well
as levels of intelligence with only minimal
exposure to appearance and behaviours, and
our findings certainly seem to support that,”
Whyte said. “We also found that 73% of our
participants who had children by donation
kept in touch via mail, email, phone, video
link or even in person with at least one of
their donor children.”What Women Want in a Sperm Donor