The GABAA receptor beta subunit is required to confer sensitivity to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS. In previous studies we demonstrated that the growth and differentiation factor neuregulin 1 (NRG1) selectively induced expression of the beta2 subunit mRNA and encoded protein in rat cerebellar granule neurons in culture. In the present report we...

BACKGROUND This study determined whether changes in the expression of neuregulin (NRG) 1, erbB2 tyrosine kinase (ErbB2) and the M2 muscarinic receptor in the urothelium and detrusor muscle of the rat bladder were associated with partial bladder outlet obstruction (PBOO). METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats (body weight 250-300 g) were used and subdivided into control (n = 10) and PBOO groups (n ...

objective: although the etiology of schizophrenia is unknown, it has a significant genetic component. ‎a number of studies have indicated that neuregulin-1 (nrg1) gene may play a role in the ‎pathogenesis of schizophrenia. in this study, we examined whether the rs2439272 of nrg1 ‎is associated with schizophrenia and its negative symptoms in an iranian population.‎ method: rs2439272 was genotype...

Schizophrenia is a multi-factorial disease characterized by a high heritability and environmental risk factors. In recent years, an increasing number of researchers worldwide have started investigating the "two-hit hypothesis" of schizophrenia predicting that genetic and environmental risk factors (GxE) interactively cause the development of the disorder. This work is starting to produce valuab...

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR, OMIM 142623) is a developmental disorder characterized by the absence of ganglion cells along variable lengths of the distal gastrointestinal tract, which results in tonic contraction of the aganglionic gut segment and functional intestinal obstruction. The RET proto-oncogene is the major gene for HSCR with differential contributions of its rare and common, coding an...

Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction. The glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia has been hypothesized to explain the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits better than the dopamine hypothesis alone. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether glutamatergic variants such as d-amino acid oxidase (DAO), DAO activator (DAOA)/G72, and neuregulin 1 ...

Grb2-associated binders (Gabs) are scaffolding proteins implicated in cell signaling via receptor tyrosine kinases including neuregulin-1(NRG1)-ErbB receptor signaling, which is essential for peripheral nerve myelination. Here, we show that the conditional removal of Gab1 from Schwann cells resulted in hypomyelination and abnormal development of Remak bundles. In contrast, hypomyelination was n...

Recent genetic evidence indicates that neuregulin 1 (NRG1) and its receptor erbB4 may be susceptibility genes in schizophrenia, but their function in CNS synaptic transmission and circuitry is not well understood. In this issue of Neuron, studies from Li et al. and Woo et al. show that NRG1 and erbB4 regulate transmission at brain glutamate and GABA synapses. These findings raise the possibilit...

The transition from mitosis to meiosis is unique to germ cells. In murine embryonic ovaries and juvenile testes, retinoic acid (RA) induces meiosis via the stimulated by retinoic acid gene 8 (Stra8), but its molecular pathway requires elucidation. We present genetic evidence in vivo and in vitro that neuregulins (NRGs) are essential for the proliferation of spermatogonia and the initiation of m...

The RET proto-oncogene was identified as a major locus involved in Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) and whole exome sequencing identified NRG1 and NRG3 as additional HSCR susceptibility loci. We investigated the effects of RET (rs2506030 and rs2435357), NRG1 (rs2439302, rs16879552 and rs7835688) and NRG3 (rs10748842, rs10883866 and rs6584400) polymorphisms in ...