Schizophrenic Brain Cells Created in Lab

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor

Neurons derived from schizophrenic patients. CREDIT: Dr. Kristen Brennand, Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  View full size image

Skin cells taken from four individuals with schizophrenia have been turned into brain cells, or neurons, and grown in lab dishes, the first time a complex mental disorder has been examined using living brain cells.

The lab-grown neurons showed fewer connections between each other than was found in healthy brain cells, the researchers said. /.../