Psychiatric disorders articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  11 April 2014 | Open Access

  Protein interaction network of alternatively spliced isoforms from brain links genetic risk factors for autism

  Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex genetic trait that encompasses a range of neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, the authors clone brain-expressed alternatively-spliced isoforms of ASD risk factors and construct a network of protein interactions that provides further insight into the disease aetiology.

  • Roser Corominas
  • , Xinping Yang
  •  & Lilia M. Iakoucheva

• Article | 11 March 2014

  Genome-wide association study reveals two new risk loci for bipolar disorder

  Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mood disorder, which has been shown to have a large genetic component. Here the authors identify two previously unreported BD risk loci and provide further insights into the biological mechanisms underlying BD development.

  • Thomas W. Mühleisen
  • , Markus Leber
  •  & Sven Cichon

• Article
  19 November 2013 | Open Access

  Genome-wide association study implicates NDST3 in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

  Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are important psychiatric disorders with overlapping genetic components. Here, the authors identify and replicate a genome-wide significant risk locus for the two disorders, and suggest a role for NDST3in severe psychiatric disease.

  • Todd Lencz
  • , Saurav Guha
  •  & Ariel Darvasi

• Article | 25 September 2013

  Functional evaluation of autism-associated mutations in NHE9

  Mutations in the gene that encodes the endosomal cation/proton antiporter NHE9 are implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. In this study, the authors screen autism-associated variants in the human population and identify specific variants of NHE9 that are characterized by a loss of function in astrocytes.

  • Kalyan C. Kondapalli
  • , Anniesha Hack
  •  & Rajini Rao

• Article
  05 June 2013 | Open Access

  Hypothalamic proteoglycan syndecan-3 is a novel cocaine addiction resilience factor

  The lateral hypothalamus is implicated in drug reward and addiction. Chen and colleagues find that in the lateral hypothalamus of mice, the proteoglycan syndecan-3 negatively regulates cocaine-seeking behaviour by modulating the effects of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor.

  • Jihuan Chen
  • , Vez Repunte-Canonigo
  •  & Pietro Paolo Sanna

• Article
  25 September 2012 | Open Access

  Uncoupling of the endocannabinoid signalling complex in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome

  Fragile X syndrome is a major genetic cause of autism and is caused by loss of the fragile X mental retardation protein. In a mouse model of fragile X syndrome, Junget al. show that an absence of neuronal endocannabinoid signalling is responsible for the neurophysiological and behavioural defects.

  • Kwang-Mook Jung
  • , Marja Sepers
  •  & Olivier J. Manzoni