Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2014
ReviewThe role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the neuroinflammation and neurogenesis of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness with chronic symptoms and significant impairment in psychosocial functioning. Although novel antipsychotics have been developed, the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are still unresponsive to pharmacotherapy. The high level of social impairment and a chronic deteriorating course suggest that schizophrenia likely has neurodegenerative characteristics. ⋯ Further studies should consider the confounding effects of systemic factors such as metabolic syndrome and smoking. In addition, the unique mechanisms by which pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in the etiopathology of schizophrenia should be investigated. In this article, we aimed to review (1) major findings regarding neuroinflammation and pro-inflammatory cytokine alterations in schizophrenia, (2) interactions between neuroinflammation and neurogenesis as possible neural substrates for schizophrenia, and (3) novel pharmacological approaches.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2014
The predictive value of a change in natural killer cell activity for delirium.
Few studies looking for an effective biomarker to predict delirium have been performed. This study was designed to investigate whether a change in inflammatory status, indicated by blood natural killer (NK) cell activity, predicts delirium. ⋯ Increase in blood NK cell activity may be associated with developing delirium. Further studies including larger numbers of patients are needed to justify the preventive use of drugs for patients meeting criteria for both predictors.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2014
Impaired empathic abilities and reduced white matter integrity in schizophrenia.
Empathic abilities are impaired in schizophrenia. Although the pathology of schizophrenia is thought to involve disrupted white matter integrity, the relationship between empathic disabilities and altered white matter in the disorder remains unclear. The present study tested associations between empathic disabilities and white matter integrity in order to investigate the neural basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. ⋯ The patients showed a significant FA reduction in bilateral deep white matter in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, a large portion of the corpus callosum, and the corona radiata. In schizophrenia patients, fantasy subscales positively correlated with FA in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi and anterior thalamic radiation, and personal distress subscales negatively correlated with FA in the splenium of the corpus callosum. These results suggest that disrupted white matter integrity in these regions constitutes a pathology underpinning specific components of empathic disabilities in schizophrenia, highlighting that different aspects of empathic impairments in the disorder would have, at least partially, distinct neuropathological bases.