It has been found at the Ansary Stem Cell Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell College that when a certain gene was taken away from mice, they developed behaviors that we much a like those that people with obsessive compulsive disorder exhibit. The researchers were looking at the role of the gene called Slitrk5, which had been linked to blood stem cells and vascular cells, when they stumbled across this finding. Once this gene was disabled the mice started obsessively grooming themselves and became extremely anxious. The frontal lobe-to-striatum circuitry of these mice changed to such a way that is extremely similar to those with OCD.

This discovery is huge in the fact that it gives researchers a very easily attained model of someone with OCD. Dr. Shahin Rafii and Dr. Francis S.Y. were the leaders of the group that discovered this and believe that this gene not functioning properly leads to the development of OCD. This finding could lead to better understanding of the disorder itself and could lead to new treatments.

The only problem with this finding is that the gene is found in vascular cells and blood stem cells. The researchers had no real clue as to why genes in these cells would lead to a disorder in the brain. They think that it might be the cross-talk between the vascular system and the neurons might have something to do with it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426131555.htm

-Charles Brown