Babies of mothers with schizophrenia or bipolar illness show abnormalities in the amygdala in the earliest stages of brain development that are consistent with alterations associated with schizophrenia, according to new research.
“Abnormal amygdala functional connectivity is present in infants at high risk for schizophrenia shortly after birth,” said lead author John H. Gilmore, MD, director of the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“With the bulk of structural and functional development in human brains tending to be done by 2 years of age, I think it is very important to identify infants at risk very early in life and develop early intervention strategies.”
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“These findings indicate that these abnormal functional circuits associated with schizophrenia look like they likely arise during prenatal and early neonatal brain development,” Dr Gilmore said.
“The study suggests that it may be possible to develop imaging-based early identification of risk for later psychiatric illness at the earliest stages of postnatal life,” he added.
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