Tiny Particles May Be Linked to Schizophrenia

Swedish scientists have found tiny, mysterious particles in the spinal marrow fluid that could help explain the cause of schizophrenia. They may be involved in the development of the disease or may result from the disease process in brains of schizophrenic patients, the Swedish researchers reported in the journal Neuroscience Letters.

Dr. Lennart Wetterberg and his colleagues at Stockholm’s St. Goran’s Hospital said the full significance of the findings was not yet clear and more research was needed. “We have viruses, bacteria and prions--this could be an entirely new form of life,” he told Reuters news service.

But he said this was just one theory, and it was still uncertain what form of life is represented by the particles, which are bigger than ordinary viruses but smaller than bacteria.

The team studied spinal fluid obtained by lumbar puncture from 22 schizophrenic patients and 38 control patients. The study found spherical particles--only 1/100,000th of a millimeter in size--in the spinal fluid of 20 of the 22 patients with schizophrenia against only two of the 38 controls, they said.