Liu Yong, Tao Huai, Yang Xiudeng, Huang Kai, Zhang Xianghui, Li Cunyan
Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya) and China National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Changsha, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2019 Apr 10;10:217. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00217. eCollection 2019.
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a debilitating and heterogeneous disease. We hypothesized that the oxytocin (OXT) system, inflammation and one-carbon metabolism would have a link with SZ. In this study, serum OXT, OXT receptor (OXTR), interleukin-6 (IL-6), high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) levels were measured in 52 first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and 41 healthy controls (HC) from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. Meanwhile, the mRNA expressions of OXT and OXTR genes were determined by real-time quantitative PCR. Serum OXT and OXTR levels were significantly lower in FES patients (518.96 ± 22.22 and 174.60 ± 17.11 pg/ml) than the HC group (711.58 ± 40.57 and 252.15 ± 20.62 pg/ml). Serum IL-6 and hsCRP levels showed no difference between the two groups (1.82 ± 0.30 vs. 1.69 ± 0.36 pg/ml, 0.66 (0.22, 1.07) vs. 0.31 (0.13, 0.91) mg/L), but serum Hcy levels were significantly higher in FES patients (20.18 ± 1.83 vs. 15.24 ± 0.82 μmol/ml). The FES patients (0.27 ± 0.02 and 0.20 ± 0.02) have relatively higher mRNA expressions of OXT and OXTR genes than the HC group (0.16 ± 0.01 and 0.14 ± 0.01). In summary, our results suggested the possible function of the OXT system and Hcy in the pathogenesis of SZ.
精神分裂症（SZ）是一种使人衰弱的异质性疾病。我们假设催产素（OXT）系统、炎症和一碳代谢与精神分裂症存在关联。在本研究中，对来自中南大学湘雅二医院的52例首发精神分裂症（FES）患者和41名健康对照者（HC）测定了血清OXT、OXT受体（OXTR）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）、高敏C反应蛋白（hsCRP）和同型半胱氨酸（Hcy）水平。同时，通过实时定量PCR测定OXT和OXTR基因的mRNA表达。FES患者的血清OXT和OXTR水平（分别为518.96±22.22和174.60±17.11 pg/ml）显著低于HC组（分别为711.58±40.57和252.15±20.62 pg/ml）。两组间血清IL-6和hsCRP水平无差异（分别为1.82±0.30与1.69±0.36 pg/ml，0.66（0.22，1.07）与0.31（0.13，0.91）mg/L），但FES患者的血清Hcy水平显著更高（20.18±1.83与15.24±0.82 μmol/ml）。FES患者（分别为0.27±0.02和0.20±0.02）的OXT和OXTR基因mRNA表达相对高于HC组（分别为0.16±0.01和0.14±0.01）。总之，我们的结果提示OXT系统和Hcy在精神分裂症发病机制中可能发挥作用。
