Abstract

Schizophrenia represents a pervasive deficit in brain function, leading to hallucinations and delusions, social withdrawal and a decline in cognitive performance. As the underlying genetic and neuronal abnormalities in schizophrenia are largely unknown, it is challenging to measure the severity of its symptoms objectively, or to design and evaluate psychotherapeutic interventions. Recent advances in neurophysiological techniques provide new opportunities to measure abnormal brain functions in patients with schizophrenia and to compare these with drug-induced alterations. Moreover, many of these neurophysiological processes are phylogenetically conserved and can be modelled in preclinical studies, offering unique opportunities for use as translational biomarkers in schizophrenia drug discovery.

Author affiliations

1. Nathan Kline Institute for Schizophrenia Research/New York University School of Medicine, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, New York 10962, USA.
2. Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System/Harvard Medical School, Psychiatry 116A, 940 Belmont Street, Brockton, Massachusetts 02301, USA.
3. Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21228, USA.
4. Department of Psychiatry/Heinrich Heine University, Bergische Landstr. 2, 40629 Duesseldorf, Germany.
5. Neuroscience Department, CNS Discovery, Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, Connecticut 06340, USA.

Correspondence to: Mihály Hajós⁵ Email: mihaly.hajos@pfizer.com

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