News Releases & Research Results Excessive production of hydrogen sulfide affects schizophrenia―New angle for drug discovery―

Results of a joint research by Visiting Researcher Masayuki Ide, Deputy Team Leader Tetsuo Ohnishi, and Team Leader Takeo Yoshikawa of the Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Professor Hideo Kimura of the Department of Pharmacology, Sanyo‐Onoda City University, Assistant Professor Yasuto Kunii of the Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, and Specially Appointed Professor Nobutaka Hirokawa of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo.

• Although hydrogen sulfide is known to be synthesized by three enzymes (MPST, CBS, and CTH) in various tissues, including the brain tissue, the biological effects of the excessive production of hydrogen sulfide remain unclear.
• In the study, the researchers found that the excessive production of hydrogen sulfide in the brain was involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia in a mouse experiment.
• The results should provide a new angle for discovering new drugs for schizophrenia, which target hydrogen sulfide, a signal molecule in the brain.

This research was implemented with the support of Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences by AMED.

The results of research were published on October 28 in EMBO Molecular Medicine, the online edition of the European scientific journal.

Ide M., et al. Excess hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides production underlies a schizophrenia pathophysiology　EMBO Molecular Medicine
DOI：10.15252/emmm.201910695