ROS-Induced DNA Damage Associates with Abundance of Mitochondrial DNA in White Blood Cells of the Untreated Schizophrenic Patients

Figure 4

The scheme illustrates the choice of the parameters in the work. Schizophrenia is associated with elevated levels of ROS. Oxidative stress is known to cause the DNA damage. 8-oxodG is a marker of oxidative stress. (1) In response to increased levels of ROS and DNA damage, the cell increases the number of mitochondria. This response of the SZ patient’s cells is similar to the response of healthy control’s cells to oxidative stress induced by ionizing radiation [15]. (2) Hospitalization of the SZ patient and its treatment with antipsychotics leads to a decrease in the number of mtDNA in leukocytes.