Intermediate phenotypes in psychiatric disorders

摘要: The small effect size of most individual risk factors for psychiatric disorders likely reflects biological heterogeneity and diagnostic imprecision, which has encouraged genetic studies intermediate phenotypes that are closer to the molecular effects genes than clinical symptoms. Neuroimaging-based have emerged as particularly promising because they map associated gene onto physiological processes in brain altered patients their healthy relatives. Recent evidence using this approach elucidated discrete, dissociable mechanisms at level neural circuitries, related cognitive functions. This may greatly contribute our understanding genetics pathophysiology disorders.