Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

Objectives : We reviewed cellular and synaptic dysconnectivity, disturbances in micro- and macro- circuitries, and neurodevelopmentally-derived disruptions of neural connectivity in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

Method : We reviewed the selected articles about disturbances in neural circuits which had been proposed as a pathogenetic mechanism of schizophrenia.

Results : The literature review reveals that schizophrenia may be a disease related to disturbance in neurodevelopmental mechanism, shown as 'a misconnection syndrome of neural circuit or neural network'. In descriptive psychopathological view, definition of a disorder of brain connectivity has limitation to explain other aspects of schizophrenia including deterministic strictness in thought process.

Conclusion : Schizophrenia is considered as a disorder of brain connectivity as well as a neurodevelopmental disorder related with genetic and environmental factors. We could make a suggestion that "JoHyeonByung (attunement disorder)" denotes the disturbances of psychic fine-tuning which correspond to the neural correlates of brain dysconnectivity metaphorically.

Keywords Schizophrenia;Brain connectivity;Neurodevelopment.