Schizophrenia as a network disorder

Summary

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with an unfavourable outcome for more than 50% of the sufferers. Looking at its pathophysiology, it recently became more and more evident that it is not a classical neurodegenerative disease, but a disorder with dysfunctional regenerative processes of the human brain. Its etiology shows an interaction of environmental and genetic factors as can be seen in complex disorders. Meanwhile we learned that beside the „copy number variations” (CNVs) and risk genes (e. g. NRG-1, G72), also epigenetic mechanisms play a pivotal role for the significant influence of environmental factors on the pathophysiology. Understanding certain pathophysiological aspects of the clinical symptomatology like cognitive dysfunction should promote the development of add-on therapies improving the long-term outcome of schizophrenia.

Keywords

Schizophrenia - pathogenesis - hippocampus - genetics - long-term outcome

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