Abstract:

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder typically began in late adolescence or early adulthood. To date, the cause of schizophrenia remains largely unclear. The classical dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia is now thought to be sided. Meanwhile, the involvement of impaired Parvalbumin positive interneurons (PV+ neurons) in the pathological mechanism of schizophrenia has been realized and received increasing attention. Generally, PV+ cells is a kind of inhibitory, fast-spiking interneurons, which had been demonstrated to be involved in synaptic plasticity, excitation/inhibition balance and neurogenesis. In schizophrenia, abnormal PV+ neurons has been commonly found in patients and relevant animal models., In this article, we reviewed the roles of deficits of PV+ neurons in schizophrenic pathology combined its principal phenotypes including defective NMDA receptors, abnormal gamma oscillation and oxidative stress, hoping to contribute to further investigation and development of new drugs.

Key words: schizophrenia, interneurons, NMDA receptors, oxidative stress