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Wu XL, Yan QJ, Zhu F. Abnormal synaptic plasticity and impaired cognition in schizophrenia. World J Psychiatry 2022; 12:541-557. [PMID: 35582335 PMCID: PMC9048451 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i4.541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe mental illness that affects several brain domains with relation to cognition and behaviour. SCZ symptoms are typically classified into three categories, namely, positive, negative, and cognitive. The etiology of SCZ is thought to be multifactorial and poorly understood. Accumulating evidence has indicated abnormal synaptic plasticity and cognitive impairments in SCZ. Synaptic plasticity is thought to be induced at appropriate synapses during memory formation and has a critical role in the cognitive symptoms of SCZ. Many factors, including synaptic structure changes, aberrant expression of plasticity-related genes, and abnormal synaptic transmission, may influence synaptic plasticity and play vital roles in SCZ. In this article, we briefly summarize the morphology of the synapse, the neurobiology of synaptic plasticity, and the role of synaptic plasticity, and review potential mechanisms underlying abnormal synaptic plasticity in SCZ. These abnormalities involve dendritic spines, postsynaptic density, and long-term potentiation-like plasticity. We also focus on cognitive dysfunction, which reflects impaired connectivity in SCZ. Additionally, the potential targets for the treatment of SCZ are discussed in this article. Therefore, understanding abnormal synaptic plasticity and impaired cognition in SCZ has an essential role in drug therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiu-Lin Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
| | - Qiu-Jin Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
| | - Fan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
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Lu PY, Huang YL, Huang PC, Liu YC, Wei SY, Hsu WY, Chen KC, Chen PS, Wu WC, Yang YK, Tseng HH. Association of visual motor processing and social cognition in schizophrenia. NPJ SCHIZOPHRENIA 2021; 7:21. [PMID: 33850147 PMCID: PMC8044174 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-021-00150-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Patients with schizophrenia have difficulties in social cognitive domains including emotion recognition and mentalization, and in sensorimotor processing and learning. The relationship between social cognitive deficits and sensorimotor function in patients with schizophrenia remains largely unexplored. With the hypothesis that impaired visual motor processing may decelerate information processing and subsequently affects various domains of social cognition, we examined the association of nonverbal emotion recognition, mentalization, and visual motor processing in schizophrenia. The study examined mentalization using the verbal subset of the Chinese version of Theory of Mind (CToM) Task, an equivalent task of the Faux Pas Test; emotion recognition using the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2-Taiwan version (DANVA-2-TW), and visual motor processing using a joystick tracking task controlled for basic motor function in 34 individuals with chronic schizophrenia in the community and 42 healthy controls. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly worse performance than healthy controls in social cognition, including facial, prosodic emotion recognition, and mentalization. Visual motor processing was also significantly worse in patients with schizophrenia. Only in patients with schizophrenia, both emotion recognition (mainly in prosodic modality, happy, and sad emotions) and mentalization were positively associated with their learning capacity of visual motor processing. These findings suggest a prospective role of sensorimotor function in their social cognitive deficits. Despite that the underlying neural mechanism needs further research, our findings may provide a new direction for restoration of social cognitive function in schizophrenia by enhancing visual motor processing ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pin-Yen Lu
- Jianan Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Lien Huang
- Department of Psychology, Fo Guang University, Yilan, Taiwan
| | - Pai-Chuan Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Chia Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Shyh-Yuh Wei
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Yun Hsu
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Kao Chin Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Po See Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Institute of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital Dou-Liou Branch, Yunlin, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Chen Wu
- Jianan Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tainan, Taiwan.,School of Medicine and School of Law, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yen Kuang Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Institute of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.,Department of Psychiatry, Tainan Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Huai-Hsuan Tseng
- Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. .,Institute of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
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Gogos JA, Crabtree G, Diamantopoulou A. The abiding relevance of mouse models of rare mutations to psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics. Schizophr Res 2020; 217:37-51. [PMID: 30987923 PMCID: PMC6790166 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2019] [Revised: 03/19/2019] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Studies using powerful family-based designs aided by large scale case-control studies, have been instrumental in cracking the genetic complexity of the disease, identifying rare and highly penetrant risk mutations and providing a handle on experimentally tractable model systems. Mouse models of rare mutations, paired with analysis of homologous cognitive and sensory processing deficits and state-of-the-art neuroscience methods to manipulate and record neuronal activity have started providing unprecedented insights into pathogenic mechanisms and building the foundation of a new biological framework for understanding mental illness. A number of important principles are emerging, namely that degradation of the computational mechanisms underlying the ordered activity and plasticity of both local and long-range neuronal assemblies, the building blocks necessary for stable cognition and perception, might be the inevitable consequence and the common point of convergence of the vastly heterogeneous genetic liability, manifesting as defective internally- or stimulus-driven neuronal activation patterns and triggering the constellation of schizophrenia symptoms. Animal models of rare mutations have the unique potential to help us move from "which" (gene) to "how", "where" and "when" computational regimes of neural ensembles are affected. Linking these variables should improve our understanding of how symptoms emerge and how diagnostic boundaries are established at a circuit level. Eventually, a better understanding of pathophysiological trajectories at the level of neural circuitry in mice, aided by basic human experimental biology, should guide the development of new therapeutics targeting either altered circuitry itself or the underlying biological pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph A. Gogos
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA,Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA,Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032 USA,Correspondence should be addressed to: Joseph A. Gogos ()
| | - Gregg Crabtree
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA,Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Anastasia Diamantopoulou
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA,Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
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