Increased Mrna Levels Of Microglial Markers Of Phagocytosis In Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with cognitive disturbances linked to dysfunction within the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Genetic studies have implicated microglia-related genes as risk factors for the disorder; however, the specific contribution of microglia to the underlying molecular pathophysiology is unknown. Emerging evidence demonstrates that microglia are involved in the phagocytosis of dendritic spines. Given well-known evidence of spine deficits in the PFC of SZ subjects, these findings suggest that elevated microglia-mediated phagocytosis of spines may contribute to spine deficits in the disorder. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that microglia-related markers of phagocytosis are elevated in the PFC in SZ.