Starting at the endophenotype: A role for alpha-CaMKII in schizophrenia?

Using an endophenotype-driven screen, a new study finds that α-calcium/calmodulin kinase II mutant mice exhibit a range of behavioral abnormalities related to schizophrenia. Perhaps most strikingly, this cluster of schizophrenia-related endophenotypes was associated with abnormal neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus, raising the possibility that disrupted adult neurogenesis lies at the core of this and other psychiatric disorders.