Kidd K K
Department of Human Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
Ciba Found Symp. 1987;130:184-96. doi: 10.1002/9780470513507.ch11.
Many of the major psychiatric disorders show sufficient familial clustering to raise the suspicion that genetic factors are important in determining who is and who is not affected. There is reasonable evidence from many sources to support a major genetic component to these common disorders. However, no simple mode of inheritance can be convincingly demonstrated. A genetic linkage study seems to be the most promising approach towards identifying aetiological factors in these disorders. The neurochemical complexity of the relevant parts of the brain and the absence of any biochemical abnormalities that appear to be aetiologically relevant also give strong impetus for a molecular genetic approach that uses genetic linkage. 'Large-scale' genetic linkage studies using restriction fragment length polymorphisms are under way for manic depressive illness (among other disorders) and are providing evidence against the involvement of some candidate genes. Some strongly positive evidence has also begun to emerge.
许多主要的精神疾病都表现出足够的家族聚集性，这引发了人们对遗传因素在决定谁会患病、谁不会患病方面起着重要作用的怀疑。来自许多方面的合理证据支持这些常见疾病存在主要的遗传成分。然而，尚无令人信服的证据能证明其遵循简单的遗传模式。基因连锁研究似乎是确定这些疾病病因因素最有前景的方法。大脑相关部位的神经化学复杂性以及不存在任何似乎与病因相关的生化异常，也为采用基因连锁的分子遗传学方法提供了强大动力。针对躁郁症（以及其他疾病）正在进行使用限制性片段长度多态性的“大规模”基因连锁研究，这些研究正在提供证据反驳某些候选基因的参与。一些强有力的阳性证据也已开始出现。
