Schizo - Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis

Prenatal and Neonatal Environment
1. risk of schizo is elevated in people problems could've affected brain devel - poor prenatal nutrition, premature birth etc
  1. also elevated if mother exposed to extreme stress - sudden death during pregnancy
    1. together influence is greater
2. schizo linked to head injuries as a child
  1. don't know if head injuries led to schizo or schizo to head injuries
3. if mother is Rh neg and baby is Rh pos, babes rh pos blood factor may trigger immunological rejection by mother
  1. response is weak with woman first Rh pos baby but stronger later pregnancies and more intense with boys than girls
4. season-of-birth effect
  1. tendency for people born in winter to have slightly greater probability of developing schizo than other times of the year
  2. complications of deliver or early nutrition
  3. viral infection
    1. influenza and other epidemics - common in autumn
      1. impairs crucial stage of brain development in baby who will be born in winter
5. childhood infections
  1. toxoplasma gondii
    1. reproduces only in cats but infect humans
    2. impairs brain development and leads to memory disorder, hallucinations and delusions
      1. TORREY & YOLKEN
    3. blood tests found antibodies to toxoplasma parasite in a higher percentage of those with schizo than normal population
Mild Brain Abnormalities
1. some people withs schizo show brain abnormalities of brain anatomy vary from one person to another
2. people with schizo have less tray matter and white matter and larger ventricles - fluid filled spaces within the brain
  1. WOLKIN ET AL 1998
3. strongest deficits were in left temporal and frontal areas of cortex
4. areas with consistent signs of abnormality some that mature slowly like dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
  1. abnormalities include weaker than av connections from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to other areas and less activity in this area during memory tasks
5. people with schizo show similar deficit of memory and attention to people with damage to temporal or prefrontal cortex
6. cell bodies are smaller than normal especially in hippo and prefrontal cortex
7. lateralization differs from normal pattern
  1. most people left hemi is slightly larger than right, especially in planum temporal of the temporal lobe
    1. those with schizo, right planim temporale is equal or larger
Early Development and Later Psychopathology
1. most people who develop schizo in adulthood had shown problems since childhood like memory deficits
  1. prefrontal cortex, area shows consistent signs of deficit

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Schizo - Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis

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	Created by n.c.wetmore about 11 years ago