Ruiz de Azúa , S. . 1, 2, 3 , Palomino , A. . 2 , Haidar, K. 1 , Hernandez-Martín, A. . 2 , Barbeito, S. . 1 , Alberich, S. . 1 , Molina, V. . 4 , Matute, C. . 2 & González-Pinto, A. . 1, 2, 3
1 Santiago-Araba University Hospital, CIBERSAM.
2 Neuroscience Department, University of the Basque Country
3 Kronikgune
4 Psychiatry Service, University Hospital of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
Schizophrenic patients have some cognitive impairments and this deteriorate performance correlates with some neurophysiological abnormalities. The aim of this study is to analize the cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia and whether this worse cognition is related to neurophysiological function and the presence of certain genes.
We recruited 29 patients and 28 controls matched by age, gender and educational level. We collected blood of all participants, analizing the alleles for these genes: GRIN1, GRIN 2A, GRIN 2B, NRG1, EAAT3, COMT. All patients and controls were evaluated with a cognitive battery (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia: BACS) and went through an electroencephalografy with P300 test.
We found that two SNPs, related to glutamate transporter and to NMDA, were more frecuent in patients with schizophrenia than in controls. The CI in the patients was significally lower than in controls (82,24 vs.102,78; t=5,090; p<0,001). The patients performed worse than the controls in all cognitive scales (verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, verbal fluency, processing speed and problem resolution). There was a negative correlation between verbal memory and cortical noise in patients with schizophrenia. COMT, GRIN2a, NRG1C genes were associated with worse performance in cognitive test (memory and problem resolution).
The are some genes that are implicated in some endophenotipes of schizophrenia and the localization of these genes could be a key to early diagnosis.