INDICATORS OF FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY OF NERVOUS AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS IN MICE WITH MUTATIONS IN THE DISC1 GENE

Schizophrenia is a multifactorial disease, the pathogenesis of which against the background of immune dysfunction consists of a complex interaction of the genetic characteristics of the organism and environmental factors. To better match the available experimental model of schizophrenia (mouse DISC1- L100P) to the genetic diversity of psychopathology that is observed in humans, we have obtained and studied animals that combine two diff erent mutant alleles of the DISC1 gene (Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1). The purpose of this work was to study emotional, social and cognitive behavior in mice carrying two mutations in the DISC1 gene – L100P and Q31L and their comparison to the spectrum of pro- and anti-infl ammatory cytokines in the brain structures of DISC1-L100P mice. Males DISC1-L100P/Q31L mice, in contrast to females, showed a more pronounced defi cit of prepulse inhibition to the 72 dB signal. All studied groups showed the absence of a depressive-like behavior in the tail suspention test. Since DISC1-L100P mice are characterized by changes in the cytokine profi le in the brain structures involved in the pathogenetic mechanisms of schizophrenia, the experimental model of DISC1-L100P/Q31L mice seems promising in studying the contribution of epigenetic eff ects, including maternal immune activation, to schizophrenia pathogenesis.