Alteration in Cngb1 Expression upon Maternal Immune Activation in a Mouse Model and Its Possible Association with Schizophrenia Susceptibility

Objective: The cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (Cng) regulates synaptic efficacy in brain neurons by modulating Ca2+ levels in response to changes in cyclic nucleotide concentrations. This study investigated whether the expression of Cng channel, cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunit beta 1 (Cngb1) exhibited any relationship with the pathophysiol-ogy of schizophrenia in an animal model and whether genetic polymorphisms of the human gene were associated with the progression of schizophrenia in a Korean population. Methods: We investigated whether Cngb1 expression was related to psychiatric disorders in a mouse model of schizo-phrenia induced by maternal immune activation. A case-control study was conducted of 275 schizophrenia patients and 410 controls with single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5 '-near region of CNGB1. Results: Cngb1 expression was decreased in the prefrontal cortex in the mouse model. Furthermore, the genotype fre-quency of a SNP (rs3756314) of CNGB1 was associated with the risk of schizophrenia. Conclusion: Our results suggest that CNGB1 might be associated with schizophrenia susceptibility and maternal immune activation. Consequently, it is hypothesized that CNGB1 may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.