Genetic Association and Brain Morphology Studies and the Chromosome 8p22 Pericentriolar Material 1 (PCM1) Gene in Susceptibility to Schizophrenia

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Abstract
The evidence of a major role for genetic susceptibility in the etiology of schizophrenia has been shown by family, twin, adoption, and genetic linkage studies. Rather than the family environment, specific, unique environmental factors, which include biological environment and stochastic effects that are not shared by siblings, have been implicated.1 Two types of investigation have dominated research into schizophrenia. The first type, using structural brain imaging studies, has consistently shown volumetric abnormalities in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. The other involves the systematic mapping of chromosomal regions in which genes that increase susceptibility to schizophrenia are present. A key finding has been the presence of locus heterogeneity with different genetic susceptibilities being involved in the etiology of schizophrenia in different multiply affected families.