Chen Yue, Bidwell L Cinnamon, Norton Daniel
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA.
Curr Psychiatry Rev. 2006 Nov;2(4):431-438. doi: 10.2174/157340006778699729.
One central issue in schizophrenia research is to identify and characterize behavioral and biological markers that are intrinsic to the complex psychiatric disorder and that can serve as targets for detection, treatment, and prevention. A trait marker represents the properties of the behavioral and biological processes that play an antecedent, possibly causal, role in the pathophysiology of the psychiatric disorder, whereas a state marker reflects the status of clinical manifestations in patients. Certain visual functions, while deficient in schizophrenia, may be independent of psychosis. The question of what types of visual functions can serve as trait or state markers is beginning to be understood. Examining clinically unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients and patients with bipolar disorder can provide information about the relationship between a schizophrenic disposition and visual response traits. In this effort, researchers found that motion integration is dysfunctional in schizophrenia patients but not in their relatives or bipolar patients, whereas motion discrimination is dysfunctional in schizophrenia patients and their relatives, but not in bipolar patients. By synthesizing these findings, this review suggests that distinguishing enduring trait markers from transient state markers for schizophrenia through visual processes is helpful for developing neurobiologically and psychologically based intervention strategies.
精神分裂症研究中的一个核心问题是识别和表征复杂精神疾病所固有的行为和生物学标志物，这些标志物可作为检测、治疗和预防的靶点。特质标志物代表在精神疾病病理生理学中起先行作用、可能具有因果关系的行为和生物学过程的特性，而状态标志物反映患者临床表现的状态。某些视觉功能在精神分裂症患者中虽然存在缺陷，但可能与精神病无关。何种类型的视觉功能可作为特质或状态标志物的问题正开始得到理解。检查精神分裂症患者的临床未患病亲属以及双相情感障碍患者，可提供有关精神分裂症倾向与视觉反应特质之间关系的信息。在这项研究中，研究人员发现，运动整合在精神分裂症患者中功能失调，但在其亲属或双相情感障碍患者中并非如此，而运动辨别在精神分裂症患者及其亲属中功能失调，但在双相情感障碍患者中并非如此。通过综合这些发现，本综述表明，通过视觉过程区分精神分裂症的持久特质标志物和短暂状态标志物，有助于制定基于神经生物学和心理学的干预策略。
