[Neurodevelopmental theories of schizophrenia--preclinical studies]

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder of unknown origin, characterised by abnormalities in the realms of perception, thinking and the experience of emotions that onset is restricted to young adulthood. Many techniques that range from neuropathology to neuroimaging identified subtle brain abnormalities particularly in frontal, temporal cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia and cerebellum. Neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia test hypotheses that this disease is caused by a defect in cerebral development which results in altered neural connectivity, brain neurochemistry and aberrant behaviour observed in adult life. Recent evidence indicates that neonatal hippocampal damage may affect prefrontal neuronal integrity. The developmental lesion model appears to have predictive validity because treatment with antipsychotic drugs normalises some abnormal behaviour changes. Therefore it will be a useful paradigm in the work on new therapies and in providing new insights about pathophysiology and etiology of schizophrenia.