Schizophrenia may be caused by a lack of sunlight exposure on pregnant women. UQ researchers now believe that a lack of vitamin D during pregnancy may increase the chances of babies later developing schizophrenia.

Low maternal vitamin D exposure may subtly alter brain development, leaving offspring at increased risk of developing schizophrenia as an adult. The major source of vitamin D is via the action of sunlight on skin.

Associate Professor John McGrath from UQ's Department of Psychiatry says this could explain why there is a higher incidence of "schizophrenia births" in Europe and North America in late winter and early spring.

"It may also explain why there's a peak in schizophrenic births in Queensland every three to four years, which seems to occur at the same frequency at which the El Niño system periodically brings overcast weather," Dr McGrath said.

Dr McGrath, who is based at the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research and neurobiologist Associate Professor Alan Mackay-Sim from Griffith University tested this hypothesis by depriving pregnant rats of UV light or vitamin D in their food.

"The brains of the rats' offspring looked like the brains of people with schizo-phrenia ­- the baby rats had enlarged ventricles or fluid-filled cavities," Dr McGrath said.

"If low pre-natal vitamin D is a risk factor for schizophrenia, then this gives us some hope of one day preventing schizophrenia.

"A lot more work needs to be done, because too much vitamin D can cause birth defects. However I hope that one day supplements for pregnant women or even sunlamps could cut the incidence of this mental disorder."

Schizophrenia is a group of brain disorders affecting a person's ability to think clearly, leading to hallucinations, delusions and poor planning. It affects one in 100 Australians and contributes substantially to the global burden of disease.

Research team

Dr Darryl Eyles and Jillanne Brown from the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research, Wolston Park Hospital, Wacol,and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, UQ
Dr Francois Feron and Associate Professor Alan Mackay-Sim from the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research, Wolston Park Hospital, Wacol, and the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology, School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Griffith University
Professor John McGrath from the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research, Wolston Park Hospital, Wacol and the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr Darryl Eyles www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/eylesd1.html

Funding
2002-­2004 Stanley Foundation in the USA (AUS$300,000)
2002­-2004 National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) (AUS$355,000)

Email
Eyles@plpk.uq.edu.au

Web links
www.qcsr.uq.edu.au
www.acmc.uq.edu.au

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