Choline acetyltransferase in schizophrenia

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that schizophrenia involves altered cholinergic tone in the pons, the authors studied post-mortem brain tissue from subjects with schizophrenia. The authors used Western immunoblot to measure the concentration of choline acetyltransferase, an acetylcholine synthesizing enzyme, in the post-mortem brain tissue of 25 schizophrenic subjects and 28 nonschizophrenic comparison subjects. They also measured the concentration of glial fibrillary acidic protein, a protein from astrocytes, to examine the question of neurodegeneration. The pontine choline acetyltransferase concentrations of the schizophrenic subjects were 46% lower than those of comparison subjects, a significant difference. Glial fibrillary acidic protein concentrations did not differ between the two groups. The lower concentration of choline acetyltransferase in the pontine tegmentum of schizophrenic subjects compared with comparison subjects suggests involvement of pontine cholinergic neurons in schizophrenia.