© Kamla-Raj 2001                                                                       Int J Hum Genet, 1(3): 183-186 (2001)

Premature centromere division in schizophrenia?
Preliminary report

Károly Méhes^1,3, Mátyás Trixler², Tamás Tényi² and György Kosztolányi^1,3

1. MTA-PTE Research Group of Clinical Genetics,  Pécs, Hungary

2. Department of Psychiatry, University of  Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

3. Department of Medical Genetics and Child Development, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

Key Words Schizophrenia; chromosome instability; premature centromere division (PCD).

Abstract  Spontaneous and Methotrexate-induced chromosome instability was investigated in lymphocyte-mitoses of 20 young schizophrenic patients. As compared to controls, an increased number of chromatid and chromosome breaks and/or of premature centromere divisions (PCDs) was seen in 13 patients. No correlation between frequency of PCDs and therapy of the patients was found. In spite of the great individual variation and the fact that environmental factors could not be entirely excluded, the findings suggest a hitherto not described association of schizophrenia with PCD.

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