slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
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Study finds genetic overlap between cannabis use and schizophrenia
The association between marijuana and schizophrenia is historically fraught. In the 1960's and 1970's, scientists thought that smoking weed could trigger psychosis in just about anyone. Today, these findings are more nuanced, but researchers still think that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in people who are predisposed to the disease — meaning those with family histories of the disorder. Yet, in the last decade, some scientists have actually started to look at the effect in reverse. The resulting studies suggest that the neurobiology underlying schizophrenia might also put people affected by the disorder at increased risk for smoking pot. But these results haven't garnered nearly as much attention as studies suggesting the opposite.
Now, a new study, published today in Molecular Psychiatry, lends further support to the idea that schizophrenia plays a role in an individual's likelihood of smoking weed, by showing that the genetic variants predicting schizophrenia can also be used to predict a person's tendency to smoke pot, regardless of their mental health history. This, researchers say, demonstrates that the causal relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia might not be clear cut, and that at least a small part of the association might be caused by genetic overlap, where the same genes that predispose certain people to enjoying weed might also predispose others to developing schizophrenia — or both.
To tease apart this relationship, researchers took genetic data from recently published studies of schizophrenia, and identified genetic variants associated with the disease. Then, they applied that information to a random sample of about 2,000 healthy Australians to see if those variants could also predict cannabis use.
cont at
http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/24/5...nd-schizophrenia-is-way-more-complicated-than
The association between marijuana and schizophrenia is historically fraught. In the 1960's and 1970's, scientists thought that smoking weed could trigger psychosis in just about anyone. Today, these findings are more nuanced, but researchers still think that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in people who are predisposed to the disease — meaning those with family histories of the disorder. Yet, in the last decade, some scientists have actually started to look at the effect in reverse. The resulting studies suggest that the neurobiology underlying schizophrenia might also put people affected by the disorder at increased risk for smoking pot. But these results haven't garnered nearly as much attention as studies suggesting the opposite.
Now, a new study, published today in Molecular Psychiatry, lends further support to the idea that schizophrenia plays a role in an individual's likelihood of smoking weed, by showing that the genetic variants predicting schizophrenia can also be used to predict a person's tendency to smoke pot, regardless of their mental health history. This, researchers say, demonstrates that the causal relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia might not be clear cut, and that at least a small part of the association might be caused by genetic overlap, where the same genes that predispose certain people to enjoying weed might also predispose others to developing schizophrenia — or both.
To tease apart this relationship, researchers took genetic data from recently published studies of schizophrenia, and identified genetic variants associated with the disease. Then, they applied that information to a random sample of about 2,000 healthy Australians to see if those variants could also predict cannabis use.
cont at
http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/24/5...nd-schizophrenia-is-way-more-complicated-than
