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Published November 2000 | public
Journal Article

Cytokine and growth factor involvement in schizophrenia - support for the developmental model

Abstract

Medical treatment with various cytokines can provoke psychiatric symptoms. Conversely, psychiatric patients can display abnormalities in cytokine and neurotrophic factor expression. Such observations have pointed to the potential contribution of cytokines and growth factors to schizophrenic pathology and/or etiology. The cellular targets of the relevant factors and the nature of their actions remain to be explored in mental illness, however. Recent physiological studies demonstrate that cytokines and neurotrophic factors can markedly influence synaptic transmission and plasticity upon acute or chronic application. Moreover, many of the molecular alterations observed in the schizophrenic brain are consistent with abnormalities in cytokine and neurotrophic factor regulation of these molecules. In this review, we summarize these molecular pathology findings for schizophrenia and highlight the neurodevelopmental activities of cytokines and neurotrophic factors that may contribute to the etiology or pathology of this illness.

Additional Information

© 2000 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Received 31 August 1999; revised 22 September 1999 and 10 January 2000; accepted 10 January 2000. We thank Dr Someya for comments on this manuscript. Work cited from the authors' laboratories was supported by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (RFTF-96L00203) (HN), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (MESSC) (HN), the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (PHP).

Additional details

Created:
September 15, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023