Neural stem/progenitor cells from olfactory neuroepithelium collected by nasal brushing as a cell model reflecting molecular and cellular dysfunctions in schizophrenia

Abstract

Objectives

Neural stem/progenitor cells derived from olfactory neuroepithelium (hereafter olfactory neural stem/progenitor cells, ONSPCs) are emerging as a potential tool in the exploration of psychiatric disorders. The present study intended to assess whether ONSPCs could help discern individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) from non-schizophrenic (NS) subjects by exploring specific cellular and molecular features.

Methods

ONSPCs were collected from 19 in-patients diagnosed with SZ and 31 NS individuals and propagated in basal medium. Mitochondrial ATP production, expression of β-catenin and cell proliferation, which are described to be altered in SZ, were examined in freshly isolated or newly thawed ONSPCs after a few culture passages.

Results

SZ-ONSPCs exhibited a lower mitochondrial ATP production and insensitivity to agents capable of positively or negatively affecting β-catenin expression with respect to NS-ONSPCs. As to proliferation, it declined in SZ-ONSPCs as the number of culture passages increased compared to a steady level of growth shown by NS-ONSPCs.

Conclusions

The ease and safety of sample collection as well as the differences observed between NS- and SZ-ONSPCs, may lay the groundwork for a new approach to obtain biological material from a large number of living individuals and gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying SZ pathophysiology.

Keywords:

• Schizophrenia
• olfactory neural stem/progenitor cells
• cell proliferation
• mitochondrial ATP production
• Wnt signalling

Acknowledgements

Our gratitude goes to the patients and their families as well as the technical staff who enabled us to achieve these results.

Statement of interest

All the authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ‘Department of Excellence 2018–2022’ initiative of the Italian Ministry of education (MIUR) awarded to the Department of Neuroscience – University of Padua and by METIS ONLUS, a non-profit organisation committed to promoting mental health awareness and in part supported by #NEXTGENERATIONEU (NGEU) and funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), project MNESYS (PE0000006) – A Multiscale integrated approach to the study of the nervous system in health and disease (DN. 1553 11.10.2022).