The loss of ego boundaries in schizophrenia: a neuromolecular hypothesis

Abstract

Virtually all genes of higher organisms have non-coding introns interspersed between the coding exons that must be spliced out in order to generate a mature messenger RNA molecule used to encode proteins. The hypothesis proposed in this paper is based on a new interpretation of molecular splicing as a primordial rejection mechanism that has evolved through time to serve as a molecular basis for other types of rejection, including rejection of thoughts and impulses in the human brain that are incompatible with environmental conditions. Psychiatrists generally explain delusions or hallucinations of schizophrenic patients in terms of ‘loss of ego boundaries’ or ‘inner/outer confusion’. This new model proposes that the loss of the rejection function on the molecular level (non-splicing) in turn causes a loss of the boundary-setting function of glia in their interactions with the neural system. When introns are not spliced out from genes involved in neurotransmission, a variety of outcomes are possible. In some cases the production of neurotransmitters is decreased, in other cases the transmitter receptor has intron encoded sequence elements and/or premature stop codons that do not allow for proper transmitter occupancy. Because these ‘chimeric’ glial receptors cannot be occupied appropriately by their transmitters, the inactivating or boundary-setting function of synaptic transmission by glial cells is disturbed or lost. The inability to reject ‘intronic ideas’ may result in delusions and hallucinations, and could explain why schizophrenic patients are unable to test the reality of their ideas and are absolutely convinced that everything occurring in their brain is real. Finally, the concept of ‘intronic ideas’ from which schizophrenic patients are suffering is interpreted from an evolutionary point of view. It is proposed that many of the thoughts of schizophrenics have occurred too early in evolution and therefore cannot be realized, but in the future some of these thoughts will fit with reality as the environment changes and will no longer be considered delusions.