Risk for schizophrenia and imaging procedure in cerebral membrane metabolism

In recent years neurobiological research on the etiology of schizophrenia h as became increasingly important. In terms of a vulnerability-stress model, structural and functional cerebral alterations in schizophrenics and subje cts with a genetic risk for schizophrenia are presented together with hypot heses for distrubances of neurodevelopment or neurodegeneration developed f rom these implications. A detailed description follows of a neurobiochemica l paradigm on the disturbance of metabolism of membrane-phospholipids. (31) Phosphorous Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy allows the detection of indicat ors of this possible endo-phenotype. The possibilities and limitations of t his method are explained, as are findings up to the present. Finally it is discussed that specific pre-, peri- and postnatal influences on the cerebra l metabolism of lipids, and thus on cerebral development, may be related to structural and functional cerebral changes in schizophrenia.