Indicators of Mental Illness Found in the Developing Brain

Most genes associated with mental illness, including those previously linked with autism and schizophrenia, are expressed before birth. So finds a new study led by Yale University and featured in the October 27 Nature. An international team of researchers identified when and where in the brain genes were expressed in more than 1,000 tissue samples taken from 57 subjects aged from 40 days after conception to 82 years old. According to Yale, the study’s findings show how much of the human brain is shaped in the womb. Further exploration of the genetic foundation of mental illnesses can be found in Developmental Psychopathology and Wellness and Psychopathology in the Genome and Neuroscience Era, both by American Psychiatric Publishing.

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