TIME-COURSE OF CEREBRAL VENTRICULAR ENLARGEMENT IN SCHIZOPHRENIA SUPPORTS THE HYPOTHESIS OF ITS NEURODEVELOPMENTAL NATURE

In the absence of direct and conclusive data demonstrating the 'neurod evelopmental hypothesis' of schizophrenia, several neuromorphological findings provide relevant clues in support of it. In this paper, we re view a number of results obtained by our group in this area of researc h. In particular, the demonstration of stability of cerebral ventricul ar dimensions both in chronic schizophrenia and around the onset of th e disease, and that of an identical effect of ageing on this morpholog ical feature in large samples of patients and controls, strongly suppo rt the neurodevelopmental nature of brain pathomorphology in schizophr enia.