Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Poor working memory
Impaired attention
Impaired learning
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Hallucinations Delusions Disorganised thinking/speech Disorganised behaviour Lack of insight
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
Flat affect
Alogia
Avolition
Anhedonia
What are the causes of psychosis?
Schizophrenia
BPD - in manic episodes
Severe stress
Substance misuse
What are the symptoms of psychosis?
Same as positive schizophrenia symptoms
Name a 1st gen anti-psychotic and its action
Chlorpromazine
Primarily D2R antagonist
Name a 2nd gen anti-psychotic and its action
Risperidone
D2R antagonist and acts on 5HTRs
Which DAergic pathway do anti-psychotic drugs act on to reduce positive symptoms and which do they act on to cause side effects?
Symptom reduction - mesolimbic
Side effects - nigrostriatal
What are the structural brain changes seen in schizophrenia?
Ventricular enlargement
Decreased brain size
Decreased grey matter and cortical volume
Decreased medial temporal lobe volume
Decreased neuropil, dendritic arborisation, spine density
Aberrant neurons in white matter
No cell death
What does the DA hypothesis of schizophrenia suggest?
DA pathway hyperfunction
What does the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia suggest?
Glutamate hypofunction
Name 2 common SNPs that slightly increase schizophrenia risk
CACNA1, Neuregulin
Name a translocation that increases schizophrenia risk
DISC1
Name a CNV that increases schizophrenia risk
15q11.2 (deletion)
What is likely to be the effect of DISC1 translocation?
DISC1 truncation - loss-of-function
What is likely to be the role of DISC1 and what does it affect?
Intracellular scaffold protein
Affects neuronal proliferation, migration, spine regulation (via NMDARs and AMPARs)
How many genes are within the 15q11.2 region and which is the gene of main focus?
4
CYFIP1
What is the role of CYFIP1?
Remodels actin in dendritic spines
