Department of Psychiatry, University of Health Sciences, Erenkoy Mental Health and Neurologic Disorders Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Health Sciences, Ankara City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Aug;239(8):2585-2591. doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06147-z. Epub 2022 Apr 28.
Neuronal pentraxin-2 (NPTX2, an immediate-early gene), which regulates synapse activity and neuroplasticity, plays an essential role in the neurodevelopmental process. NPTX2 possibly enhances the accumulation of amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic receptors (AMPAR) on the postsynaptic membranes and stimulates excitatory synaptogenesis. We aimed to evaluate the plasma concentrations of NPTX2 of patients with schizophrenia in acute psychotic episodes compared with matched community-based controls.
Ninety-three (93) patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-5 and 83 healthy controls were included. The patients, all of which were in acute psychotic episodes, were recruited from the inpatient clinic. The patients were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Clinical Global Impression- Severity (CGIS) scale, whereas the healthy subjects were evaluated with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5) to exclude any major psychiatric diagnoses.
NPTX2 serum concentrations were significantly higher in the schizophrenia group (p < 0.001). NPTX2 levels negatively correlated with age (p = 0.004) and PANSS-positive symptom scores (p < 0.001). The most determinant factors in predicting the change in NPTX2 levels were PANSS-positive symptom and general psychopathology scores.
We conclude that NPTX2 could be involved in schizophrenia pathophysiology and valuable as a synapse-derived and glutamate-related biomarker. Further studies in larger samples assessing NPTX2 levels in remitted schizophrenia patients and combining neuroimaging techniques and cognitive evaluations with blood samples are needed.
神经元五肽-2（NPTX2，一种即时早期基因）调节突触活动和神经可塑性，在神经发育过程中发挥着重要作用。NPTX2 可能增强突触后膜上氨基酸-3-羟基-5-甲基-4-异恶唑丙酸受体（AMPAR）的积累，并刺激兴奋性突触发生。我们旨在评估处于急性精神病发作期的精神分裂症患者与匹配的基于社区的对照者的血浆 NPTX2 浓度。
纳入了 93 名根据 DSM-5 诊断为精神分裂症的患者和 83 名健康对照者。所有患者均处于急性精神病发作期，从住院病房招募而来。患者采用阳性和阴性症状量表（PANSS）和临床总体印象严重程度（CGIS）量表进行评估，而健康受试者采用 DSM-5 结构临床访谈（SCID-5）进行评估，以排除任何主要的精神诊断。
精神分裂症组的 NPTX2 血清浓度显著升高（p<0.001）。NPTX2 水平与年龄呈负相关（p=0.004），与 PANSS 阳性症状评分呈负相关（p<0.001）。预测 NPTX2 水平变化的最决定因素是 PANSS 阳性症状和一般精神病学评分。
我们得出结论，NPTX2 可能参与精神分裂症的病理生理学，作为一种突触衍生和谷氨酸相关的生物标志物具有价值。需要在更大的样本中进行评估缓解期精神分裂症患者的 NPTX2 水平的研究，并结合神经影像学技术和认知评估与血液样本。
