Synaptic lipids in cortical function and psychiatric disorders

Psychiatric disorders, which include a variety of distinct infirmities, affect millions of people worldwide. Without intervention, the impact of these conditions is devastating, compromising the daily life of patients and their relatives. Although insights into the underlying cortical circuitry of psychiatric diseases have emerged over the years, our understanding of their pathophysiology, elucidation of pathophysiologic mechanisms and relevant advancements in clinical therapeutic strategies have been hampered by the complexity of these neural networks and the lack of reliable biomarkers in human subjects and animal models. In this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine, Vogt and colleagues add significant new insights to the understanding of the etiology of psychiatric conditions by revealing novel contribution of synaptic lipids to altered circuit function and behavior in mice (Vogt et al, 2016).