The immune link between a leaky blood-brain barrier and schizophrenia upenn.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from upenn.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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IMAGE: A genetic condition known as 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. A Penn Vet-led team found that a leaky blood-brain barrier, allowing inappropriate immune involvement. view more
Credit: Courtesy of Jorge Iván Alvarez
Like a stern bodyguard for the central nervous sytem, the blood-brain barrier keeps out anything that could lead to disease and dangerous inflammation at least when all is functioning normally.
That may not be the case in people with schizophrenia and other mental disorders, suggest new findings from a team led by researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In these individuals, a more permissive barrier appears to allow the immune system to get improperly involved in the central nervous system, the researchers showed. The inflammation that arises likely contributes to the clinical manifestations of neuropsychi