4 Troubled Teens Blog

A study of laboratory animals found that a gene mutation associated with schizophrenia breaks down communication between two areas of the brain responsible for memory.

Researchers at Columbia University in New York found that mice with the gene mutation were unable to synchronize their activity in order to negotiate a maze.

"This gene mutation hinders communication between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus," said author Dr. Joshua Gordon writing in a report published in the journal Nature.

Labels: genetics, brain_function, schizophrenia

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An Australian study suggests that taking fish oil may help young people with schizophrenia avoid psychotic incidents.

• Dr. Paul Amminger of the University of Melbourne studied 76 people with schizophrenia
• Forty-one study subjects took fish oil tablets four times a day for three months, and the rest took sugar tablets.
  
• Among those who took fish oil, only two had psychotic incidents
  
• Among those who took sugar tablets, 11 had psychotic incidents.
  

Dr. Amminger said that previous studies have found that fatty acids such as fish oil can affect mental health, but it is too early to say whether fish oil should be prescribed for mental illness.

This study appears in the archives of General Psychiatry.

Labels: research, schizophrenia, fish oil

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Three drug companies have asked the Federal Drug Administration's review board to approve the use of antipsychotic drugs for children as young as 10 years old who have bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

A June 5 Reuters article by Lisa Richwine and Susan Heavey provided the following details about the request:

The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to approve AstraZeneca's Seroquel, Pfizer's Geodon and Eli Lilly and Co's Zyprexa for children and teens with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. All three are blockbuster medicines already sold for adults.

An FDA panel meets next week to make recommendations on the companies' bids to promote the drugs for children and teens.

Doctors can already prescribe them for children, but FDA approval would allow companies to promote the drugs, with combined sales of over $10 billion a year, more widely.

The request was followed by criticisms from organizations who are concerned about the effects of antipsychotic drugs on children.

"The studies done so far on these drugs provide almost no information about the long-term effects of them on children," said Diana Zuckerman of the National Research Center for Women and Families.

Labels: schizophrenia, children, bipolar, antipsychotic, medications, fda

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