Torres K C L, Souza B R, Miranda D M, Sampaio A M, Nicolato R, Neves F S, Barros A G A, Dutra W O, Gollob K J, Correa H, Romano-Silva M A
Laboratório de Neurociência, Departamento de Farmacologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av Antonio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Mar 17;33(2):229-34. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2008.11.011. Epub 2008 Nov 30.
Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD) are severe illnesses representing an enormous social, familiar and individual burden that affect 1% of the population world-wide. Several evidences indicate abnormalities of the dopamine system in both SCZ and BPD. Neuronal calcium sensor-1 (NCS-1) is a protein that has many functions in neurotransmission such as inhibition of dopamine D(2) receptor desensitization, regulation of ionic channels and enhancement of exocytosis of neurotransmitters. In addition, NCS-1 protein expression and mRNA levels were found increased in pre-frontal cortex (PFC) of SCZ and BPD patients. NCS-1 expression in neural and neuroendocrine cells is well documented and, recently, it was shown that NCS-1 is also expressed in mast cells and neutrophils. NCS-1 has important functions in mast cells since it stimulates Fc epsilon RI-triggered exocytosis and the release of arachidonic acid metabolites. Then, due to the known close relation between the nervous and immune systems, we sought to investigate the NCS-1 expression in lymphocytes and monocytes (CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD56+ NK cells, CD19+ B lymphocytes and CD14+ monocytes) of SCZ and BPD patients. Using flow cytometry, our results have shown that NCS-1 expression was diminished in CD4+T lymphocytes, CD19+ B lymphocytes and CD14+ monocytes of BPD patients and also decreased in CD4+ T lymphocytes and CD56+ NK cells of SCZ patients. Results suggest that immune cells might be a cellular model for studies with SCZ and BPD patients considering NCS-1 functions. Efforts need to be done to investigate the motive of the decreased percentage of immune cells expressing NCS-1 in patients with SCZ and BPD.
精神分裂症（SCZ）和双相情感障碍（BPD）是严重疾病，给全球1%的人口带来了巨大的社会、家庭和个人负担。多项证据表明，SCZ和BPD患者的多巴胺系统均存在异常。神经元钙传感器-1（NCS-1）是一种在神经传递中具有多种功能的蛋白质，如抑制多巴胺D(2)受体脱敏、调节离子通道以及增强神经递质的胞吐作用。此外，在SCZ和BPD患者的前额叶皮质（PFC）中，NCS-1蛋白表达和mRNA水平均有所升高。NCS-1在神经细胞和神经内分泌细胞中的表达已有充分记录，最近还发现它也在肥大细胞和中性粒细胞中表达。NCS-1在肥大细胞中具有重要功能，因为它能刺激FcεRI触发的胞吐作用以及花生四烯酸代谢产物的释放。鉴于已知神经和免疫系统之间存在密切关系，我们试图研究SCZ和BPD患者淋巴细胞和单核细胞（CD4+ T淋巴细胞、CD56+ NK细胞、CD19+ B淋巴细胞和CD14+单核细胞）中NCS-1的表达情况。通过流式细胞术，我们的结果表明，BPD患者的CD4+ T淋巴细胞、CD19+ B淋巴细胞和CD14+单核细胞中NCS-1表达减少，SCZ患者的CD4+ T淋巴细胞和CD56+ NK细胞中NCS-1表达也降低。结果表明，考虑到NCS-^1的功能，免疫细胞可能是研究SCZ和BPD患者的细胞模型。需要努力研究SCZ和BPD患者中表达NCS-1的免疫细胞百分比降低的原因。
