The Role of Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha in the Volume Changes of the Prefrontal Cortex, Lateral Ventricles, and Hippocampus in Schizophrenia

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

schizophrenia; TNF-α; neuroinflammation; changes in brain volume; anti-inflammatory therapy

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder that involves structural and functional changes in the brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and lateral ventricles. Changes in volume in these structures are thought to be influenced by an increase in the level of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a role in neuroinflammation, neurogenesis disorders, and apoptosis. This literature review discusses the role of TNF-α in changes in brain volume in schizophrenia. TNF-α inhibits the proliferation of pro- genitor cells in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, disrupts the synaptic plasticity, and triggers the atrophy of brain tissue that contributes to lateral ventricular enlargement. Studies showed that high levels of TNF-α are correlated with a decrease in the volume of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, as well as lateral ventricular enlargement, which is hereinafter associated with psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits. These findings suggest the potential for anti-inflammatory therapy, such as anti-TNF-α or microglia modulator, as a new approach in the treatment of schizophrenia. However, further research is needed to validate this mechanism and develop an effective therapeutic strategy.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mustafa M. Amin
AU  - Haflin Soraya Hutagalung
AU  - Dessy Mawar Zalia
AU  - Cindy Chias Arty
AU  - Roger Ho Chun Man
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - The Role of Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha in the Volume Changes of the Prefrontal Cortex, Lateral Ventricles, and Hippocampus in Schizophrenia
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry 2025 (ICONAP 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 15
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_2
ID  - Amin2025
ER  -