Abstract:

The pathophysiology of schizophrenia may be influenced by interaction of genetic, neurodevelopmental, environmental and/ or psychological factors, which make it difficult to elucidate the etiology of the disorders through clinical phenomenology. Therefore, it needs to find out endophenotypes specific to schizophrenia before onset of clinical expressions. Recently, many researchers have been concerned about subjects at high risk for schizophrenia genetically or clinically using neuroimaging techniques. In this review, we summarized neuroimaging findings performed on subjects at high risk for schizophrenia. In genetic high risk subjects, fronto-temporal abnormalities were observed, while clinical high risk subjects showed frontal abnormalities, suggestive of susceptibility markers to schizophrenia. (J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc 2008;47(5):430-440)