Psychobiology of Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are positive symptoms in schizophrenia
hallucinations and delusions
What are negative symptoms in schizophrenia
lack of motivation, apathy
What are the cognitive dysfunctions that occur in schizophrenia?
Attention, memory, executive function
Which area of the brain is implicated in the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia?
frontal cortex known as “hypofrontality”
The positive symptoms of schizophrenia are hypothesized to be
due to malfunctioning mesolimbic circuits especially involving the nucleus accumbens
The nucleus accumbens is considered to be part of the brain’s
reward circuitry
What is considered to be a key node in the nexus of malfunctioning cerebral circuitry for negative, affective, cognitive, and aggressive/implusive symptoms?
prefrontal cortex
Auditory hallucinations have a direct correlation to
the size of the temporal lobe. The smaller temporal love predicts more hallucinations
How are oligodendrocytes affected in shcizophrenics?
A decrease of 27% in the Brodmann’s area
In schizophrenic patients it is nor neuronal loss but rather
tighter packing of neurons from reduced cell size, less branching, and decreased spine formation
What prenatal complication has a linear correlation with schizophrenia?
hypoxia associated obstetric complications
Children in utero during a famine
doubled their chances of developing schizophrenia in early adulthood
What protein has been identified as being reduced in schizophrenic patients?
reelin
What two components are likely to be found in those with schizophrenia?
genetic vulnerability and environmental insult
The long term use of antipscyhotics was found to have what in Nancy Andreasen’s experiement?
a decrease in all brain regions except the cerebellum. The higher lifetime dose the more gray matter loss
