Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects how people think, feel, and act. It can cause symptoms like hallucinations, confusion, strange beliefs, and trouble focusing.
Even though researchers have studied it for years, they still don’t fully understand what causes it in the brain.
Now, a new study by scientists from King’s College London and Imperial College London has found clues that may help explain what’s happening in the brains of people with schizophrenia. Their findings suggest that people with schizophrenia may have lower levels of two important substances in the brain: iron and myelin.
Iron helps brain cells work properly, while myelin is a fatty covering that protects nerve fibers and helps brain signals travel faster.
Both are needed for healthy brain function. But when iron levels are too high or too low, it can cause damage. Previous brain imaging studies had mixed results—some showed more iron, others showed less—so the research team wanted to investigate further.
In this study, researchers scanned the brains of 85 people with schizophrenia and 86 healthy people for comparison. They used advanced brain imaging tools that can measure iron and myelin levels in different parts of the brain.
The scans showed that people with schizophrenia had lower iron and myelin levels, especially in brain areas like the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. These regions are important for controlling movement and behavior.
The changes were most noticeable in areas that are rich in cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells are responsible for making myelin and need iron to do their job.
This suggests that when oligodendrocytes don’t work properly, they may not make enough myelin, and this could be linked to schizophrenia. The study provides strong evidence that problems with these brain cells and their use of iron might play a role in the illness.
The researchers hope that their findings will lead to better ways to understand and treat schizophrenia. In the future, treatments might focus on repairing myelin or balancing iron levels in the brain.
They also plan to study whether the same brain changes appear in people with bipolar disorder or those at risk of developing schizophrenia. Another goal is to find out if these brain markers can help predict how well someone will respond to treatment.
This study brings scientists one step closer to understanding the complex biology of schizophrenia and offers hope for better treatments in the future.
If you care about mental health, please read studies about Middle-aged women with no kids may have this mental issue and findings of scientists find a cause of mental illnesses induced by childhood abuse.
For more health information, please read studies that one sleepless night can reverse depression for days and scientists find better treatment for older adults with depression.
The study is published in Molecular Psychiatry.
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