Theory - Schizophrenia 02

Question 1

Which characteristics of schizophrenia have a good prognosis?

Answer 1

Syndrome type I:

• Symptoms - predominance of positive symptoms
• intellectual impairment - absent
• postulated pathophysiology - D2 overactivity
• ventricle to brain ratio - normal
• response to dopamine agonists and stimulants - exacerbation common

Question 2

Which characteristics of schizophrenia have a bad prognosis?

Answer 2

Syndrome type II:

• Symptoms - predominance of negative symptoms
• intellectual impairment - neurocognitive dysfunction
• postulated pathophysiology - D1 hypoactivity, cell loss in prefrontal cortex on temporal lobes
• ventricle to brain ratio - increased
• response to dopamine agonists and stimulants - little effect or symptoms are improved

Question 3

What are the three areas of the brain that are of greatest interest to neuropathologists study schizophrenia?

Answer 3

• Prefrontal cortex (thinking)
• limbic midbrain system (feelings, memory)
• extrapyramidal motor system (involuntary muscle activity)

Question 4

Which are Schneider’s First Rank Symptoms of Schizophrenia?

Answer 4

1 - audible thoughts
2 - voices arguing
3 - voices commenting on one’s action
4 - influence playing on the body, somatic passivity
5 - thought withdrawal
6 - thoughts ascribed to others (thought insertion)
7 - diffusion or broadcasting of thoughts
8 - made impulses
9 - made feelings
10 - made volitional acts
11 - delusional perception

Question 5

What area of the brain shows the largest reductions in brain tissue in patients with schizophrenia?

Answer 5

• Medial temporal lobe (which contains the hippocampus, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus)
• superiotemporal gyrus
• prefrontal cortex

Question 6

Is the prefrontal cortex responsible for the positive or negative effects of schizophrenia?

Answer 6

Negative and neurocognitive

Question 7

The prefrontal cortex also controls the limbic system, is that responsible for the positive or negative effects of schizophrenia?

Answer 7

Positive

Question 8

What is the primary hypothesis of schizophrenia that has emerged from imaging studies

Answer 8

Schizophrenic pathology results from underdevelopment, destruction, or other dysfunctions of neuronal circuits in which cortical pyramidal neurons are involved

Question 9

What is the key integrative unit of the PFC?

Answer 9

The pyramidal neuron

Question 10

In schizophrenia, any pharmacological treatment which increases the activation of D1 receptors in the PFC will likewise improve what?

Answer 10

The integrative capacity of surviving PFC pyramidal neurons and would alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia

Question 11

The order of potency of an antipsychotic agent in controlling schizophrenia is directly correlated with their ability to block D-2 like receptors. The higher the affinity of the agent for D-2 like receptors, the more potent the agent is in controlling the ______________ symptoms of schizophrenia.

Answer 11

Positive

Question 12

The glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia?

Answer 12

Schizophrenia is seen as a neurodevelopment disorder in which predisposed individuals do not form an adequate amount of connections during early development of the CNS. Later in life during adolescence, a time in which individuals naturally undergo further elimination of CNS neurons, it is hypothesized that the predisposed individuals fall below a critical number of synapses required for proper mental functioning and the more profound symptoms of schizophrenia begin to appear.