The Research of Dr. Eva Anton

Music Festival "Rising Star" scientist Eva Anton, Ph.D. at University of North Carolina:

Dr. Eva Anton

Demonstrating the neuregulin-1 gene as an interneuron mover and shaker

Current theory suggests that part of the disconnected thinking, perception, and memory function inherent in schizophrenia is due to scrambled placement and connectivity of neurons in the brain. An “interneuron” is a type of neuron whose main function is to help govern the activity of neighboring neurons, by inhibiting or modifying their signaling at the appropriate times. As interneurons are born and grow in the developing brain, they migrate from their place of birth to their final, functional location. If they end up in the wrong places, you get faulty neural wiring and signaling. This year, Music Festival for Mental Health "Rising Star" scientist Dr. Eva Anton of the University of North Carolina has observed this process in action—and seen that this migration depends on the proper chemical connection between the gene neuregulin-1 and a receptor protein on those neurons called ErbB4. Comparing mice in which this connection is genetically disrupted with wild-type mice, Dr. Anton and his colleagues have watched interneurons migrate to their destinations, and found that they consistently went to the wrong places in the mutant mice. Correlating with his lab’s discovery last year that neuregulin-1 deficient mice showed behavioral changes suggestive of schizophrenia, Dr. Anton’s lab has traveled another step in connecting schizophrenia’s symptoms and pathophysiology with its genetic roots.

Video from Dr. Anton "shows streams of interneurons moving around in the developing cerebral cortex, trying to find their appropriate homes."

In the process of finding this insight, he made another discovery—this time into the way two known schizophrenia risk genes interact. He found that in neuregulin-1-ErbB4-disrupted interneurons, another gene called DISC1, also known as a strong schizophrenia risk factor, was significantly overexpressed. Dr. Anton hopes that further study, in collaboration with Dr. Akira Sawa, will reveal just how this link works—possibly whether neuregulin-1-ErbB4 disruption actually might “boost” DISC1 expression for a compounded schizophrenia risk.

The best “take-home pay” from these discoveries comes from the fact that they hold true not only in the developing brain, but also in the mature brain—and thus can lead to new treatments for adults with schizophrenia. In mature healthy mice, Dr. Anton found that neuregulin-1 signaling can aid the birth, growth and migration guidance of new neurons in the brain, a process which antidepressant medications are thought to improve. Does this mean that antidepressants might work by modifying neuregulin-1 function? “Yes, that is the question,” says Dr. Anton. “How this treatment pathway might help to repair and maintain neural circuitry should be looked at more carefully.”

Using these discoveries funded by donations to the Music Festival, Dr. Anton has earned nearly a $1 million grant from the NIMH this year expand his research at a new “Silvio O. Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders” at UNC. This center is named for the late Rep. Silvio Conte, a longtime advocate of scientific research.

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The "Rising Star" award

Since 2005, the Music Festival for Mental Health has been stimulating breakthrough research by supporting scientists early in their careers. The "Rising Star" Awards are $250,000 grants to help outstanding young scientists expand their research. In addition to the schizophrenia research award we have given annually for four years, this year we are offering four new awards for work in the development of means to provide individualized therapies for patients, and for pioneering research into the genetics of mental illnesses.

Dr. Anton joins Dr. Schahram Akbarian of University of Massachusetts, Dr. Akira Sawa of the Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Linda Brzustowicz of Rutgers University as scientists who have received this grant from the Music Festival--and who are continuing groundbreaking research today.

How you can support this research

Many festival-sponsored scientists will be present at next year's Music Festival for Mental Health on September 12, 2009. For a chance to meet them in person, please buy tickets to attend. Or, you can make a tax-deductible donation to the cause. To learn more, please see the page on our mission, or email or call us at (707) 944-0477 if you have any questions. Thank you!

Shari, Garen, Brandon and Shannon Staglin

About next year's event