Lecture 11

Question 1

What is mental health?

Answer 1

Factors affecting health of the mind, brain and nervous system

Question 2

What can GWAS studies do for mental health research?

Answer 2

Identification of ‘risk genes’ that correlate with mental health issues

Question 3

TRUE OF FALSE

Mental health is a combination of genes and environment?

Answer 3

TRUE
Social and environmental factors such as stress, sleep and substance abuse can lead to the development of mental health issues

Question 4

What is the DISC1 gene?

Answer 4

A gene that was found to be mutated in a highly inbred family with a high number of mental health issues

Question 5

Where is DISC1 expressed in zebrafish?

Answer 5

Found in the hypothalamus

Question 6

What are the effects of DISC1 mutations in zebrafish?

Answer 6

Decrease number of hypothalamus progenitor and stem cells (due to early differentiation)
Inbalance of late/early differentiated cells
Altered response to stress pathway
No behavioural or physiological response to stress