A stimulating variety of papers on genetic and clinical research in psychiatry was discussed at the latest meeting of the American Psychiatric Association and the Society of Biological Psychiatry in May 1990 in New York. Conflicting results point out that extreme caution must be taken in interpreting linkage studies of psychiatric disorders. Difficulties stem from complex models on inheritance as well as the genetic heterogeneity of psychiatric disorders. Progress has been made in the approach to the regulation of receptor genes that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. In some cases, gene regulation may be tissue-dependent, as is suggested by the alternative splicing of D2 receptor mRNA.
