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Abstract
Two separate theories that attempt to explain different aspects of schizophrenia have
recently attracted much attention. The first, the neurodevelopmental hypothesis, postulates
that deviations in early development establish a neuronal phenotype that predisposes
to, or, in some versions, determines the later onset of schizophrenia. The second
theory proposes that schizophrenic symptoms arise from abnormalities in neuronal connectivity.
Here, we suggest that the findings from these two separate lines of inquiry can be
integrated into a unitary framework: the dysplastic net hypothesis. In essence, this
proposes that anatomical and physiological dysconnectivity of the adult schizophrenic
brain is determined by dysplastic fetal brain development. We also indicate how abnormal
connectivity between brain regions constituting large-scale neurocognitive networks
is expressed in both the prepsychotic and psychotic phases of schizophrenia, and we
examine possible risk factors (genetic and environmental) for dysplastic formation
of these networks.