Risk for Schizophrenia May Start Within One Week After Birth: Study

"We believe that DISC-1 is schizophrenia's Rosetta Stone gene and could hold the master key to help us unlock our understanding of the role played by all risk genes involved in the disease," said lead researcher Kevin Fox, professor at Cardiff University in Britain.

"We have identified a critical period during brain development that directs us to test whether other schizophrenia risk genes affecting different regions of the brain create their malfunction during their own critical period," Fox noted.

Through a series of mice experiments, researchers noted a critical seven day window period immediately after birth during which the gene needed to bind to two proteins ‘Lis’ and ‘Nudel. Failure to bind resulted in diminished plasticity of neurons in later life.

"The challenge ahead lies in finding a way of treating people during this critical period or in finding ways of reversing the problem during adulthood by returning plasticity to the brain," Fox noted.

"This, we hope, could one day help to prevent the manifestation or recurrence of schizophrenia symptoms altogether," Fox said.

The study was published in the journal Science.