Abstract
Decomposition of schizophrenia into neurobiological vulnerability traits is necessary to understand the complex genetic underpinnings of this phenomenologically defined disorder. This issue is discussed with a focus on prepulse inhibition (PPI) as a neurobiological phenotype and the 5HT2a-receptor as a candidate gene. A series of recent studies illuminates that PPI and 5HT2a-receptors present as vulnerability markers for schizophrenia; a functional sequence variant in the 5HT2a-gene is contributing to this relationship and might consequently contribute to the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia with a very small risk increase.
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Maier, W., Mössner, R., Quednow, B.B. et al. From genes to psychoses and back: the role of the 5HT2α-receptor and prepulse inhibition in schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 258 (Suppl 5), 40–43 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-008-5011-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-008-5011-5