SHANK3 and schizophrenia: SHANKproteins are major scaffolds of the postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses, linking neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels to the actin cytoskeleton and G-protein-coupled signaling pathways, and mutations in SHANK3 gene are associated with autism and intellectual disability [33], as well as psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder [7].