Minor physical anomalies and schizophrenia: literature review

Abstract

Many authors view schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Knowledge of whether patients have morphologic variants that occur during the development of different anatomic areas of the brain and an understanding of the relation between such variants and brain development or prenatal exposure to possible noxae could provide clues about the events that lead to schizophrenia. Nonspecific morphologic variants that occur during the first and second trimesters of gestation, which are known as minor physical anomalies (MPA) and can be used as disease risk markers in susceptible persons, have been related with schizophrenia, independently of the anatomic region where they occur. The importance of these anomalies in relation to schizophrenia is that they may reflect a substrate (schizotaxia) that is either inherited or acquired as a consequence of injury(ies) that would result in the disease in susceptible persons. This idea is also supported by indirect evidence provided by family studies, among others. On the other hand, the role of MPA in other neurodevelopmental orders is similar to the role proposed in schizophrenia.