A new paradigm for understanding gamma-aminobutyric acid cell pathology in schizophrenia?

摘要

The article by Joshi et al. (1) in this edition of Biological Psychiatry is a provocative study that addresses a long-standing question as to whether gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) cell pathology in schizophrenia can be understood within a neuro-developmental framework. Following initial reports that GABA cells are reduced in number and function in superficial cortical layers in schizophrenics, it was suggested that these changes may be related to disturbed migration during prenatal and early postnatal development (2). Ted Jones and his colleagues provided support for this hypothesis by demonstrating that a reduced density of presumptive intemeurons in superficial layers of prefrontal cortex was accompanied by a significant increase in the number of these cells in the subcortical white matter (3).