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World J Psychiatry. Apr 19, 2022; 12(4): 541-557
Published online Apr 19, 2022. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i4.541
Abnormal synaptic plasticity and impaired cognition in schizophrenia
Xiu-Lin Wu, Qiu-Jin Yan, Fan Zhu
Xiu-Lin Wu, Qiu-Jin Yan, Fan Zhu, State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Wu XL, Yan QJ and Zhu F designed and drafted the paper; Wu XL and Zhu F revised the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81971943, No. 81772196, No. 31470264, No. 81271820, No. 30870789 and No. 30300117; Stanley Foundation from the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI), United States, No. 06R-1366 (to Dr. Zhu F); and Medical Science Advancement Program (Basic Medical Sciences) of Wuhan University, No. TFJC 2018002.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors do not have any conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fan Zhu, PhD, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Virology and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China. fanzhu@whu.edu.cn
Received: February 26, 2021
Peer-review started: February 26, 2021
First decision: July 15, 2021
Revised: July 28, 2021
Accepted: March 25, 2022
Article in press: March 25, 2022
Published online: April 19, 2022
Processing time: 411 Days and 5.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe mental illness that affects several domains of cognition and behaviour. SCZ symptoms are typically classified into three categories, namely, positive, negative, and cognitive. The etiology of SCZ is thought to be multifactorial and poorly understood. Accumulating evidence has indicated abnormal synaptic plasticity and cognitive impairments in SCZ. This article will briefly review abnormalities in synaptic plasticity, including synaptic structure, synaptic plasticity-related genes, neuroplasticity, synaptic transmission, and cognitive dysfunction in SCZ.