Karlsson Håkan, Dalman Christina
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2020;44:35-47. doi: 10.1007/7854_2018_87.
Certain infectious agents can target the brain and interfere with its growth, development, and/or function. A number of studies indicate that exposure to common infectious agents during fetal and postnatal life may also contribute to the later development of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses. Epidemiological studies of maternal infections during pregnancy have provided somewhat contradictory results with regard to infections in general but have reported surprisingly consistent associations with specific maternal exposures such as Toxoplasma gondii. Childhood is also beginning to emerge as a sensitive period for the influence of infections including infectious agents not known to target the brain. Recent studies have associated childhood infections not only with a later diagnosis of schizophrenia but also with impaired cognitive function. Importantly, independent studies indicate that the associations between early life infection and the later development of schizophrenia are not explained by factors shared between related individuals or by genetic liability for schizophrenia.
某些感染因子可侵袭大脑并干扰其生长、发育和/或功能。多项研究表明，胎儿期及出生后接触常见感染因子可能也会促使精神分裂症和其他非情感性精神病在日后发病。关于孕期母体感染的流行病学研究，总体而言给出的结果有些相互矛盾，但却惊人一致地报告了母体接触特定病原体（如弓形虫）与发病之间的关联。儿童期也开始显现为受感染影响的敏感期，这些感染包括一些未知会侵袭大脑的病原体。近期研究表明，儿童期感染不仅与日后精神分裂症的诊断有关，还与认知功能受损有关。重要的是，独立研究表明，早期感染与精神分裂症日后发病之间的关联，无法用相关个体共有的因素或精神分裂症的遗传易感性来解释。
