SCHIZOPHRENIA - AN EXTENDED ETIOLOGIC EXPLANATION

Schizophrenia has become an elusive medical conundrum since it was fir st described at the turn of the 19th century. Over time, a variety of causal hypotheses have been advanced to explain the spectrum of schizo phreniform disorders. This etiological explanation outlines the relati onship that obtains between smoking, schizophrenia, and impaired glyco metabolism which also includes disruption to the dopaminergic and sero tinergic pathways. A possible genetic explanation for this disruption wilt be identified which links mental illness to a locus of genes cont ained on the short arm of chromosome 11. These genes are all essential to normal glucose transport which positron emission tomography (PET) scans show is seriously abnormal in schizophrenia. Thus, a redefinitio n of schizophrenia as 'cerebral diabetes' will be proposed since this term implies a diabetic brain state consistent with PET scans of schiz ophrenic patients.