Dr. rer. nat. Iris Röckle and Dr. rer. nat. Miriam Schiff / Institute of Cellular Chemistry / MHH

Research report 2010

Image description:

The cover image of the 2010 research report shows an immunohistochemical staining of nerve fibers (red) and cell nuclei (blue/green) from the brain of a mouse. The fibers marked in red connect the thalamus with the cerebral cortex and run in a highly ordered manner through an area marked by the cell nuclei marked in green, the reticular nucleus of the thalamus. As two recent studies from the Institute of Cellular Chemistry show, a carbohydrate compound of the cell surface, polysialic acid, is essential for the development of these nerve fibers. Similar to the mouse model, genetically determined deviations in polysialic acid synthesis and reduced connectivity of the cerebral cortex can also occur in schizophrenic patients. This leads to the assumption that a lack of polysialic acid during brain development favors the development of schizophrenic disorders. (Hildebrandt et al., Brain 2009; Schiff et al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2011).