ReviewThe lancet. Psychiatry2020
Glial cells in schizophrenia: a unified hypothesis.
Review in The lancet. Psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 127 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
127 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 233 citations in OpenAlex.
- Uncovering convergence and divergence between autism and schizophrenia using genomic tools and patients' neurons.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The role of glial cells in mental illness: a systematic review on astroglia and microglia as potential players in schizophrenia and its cognitive and emotional aspects.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- Up-Regulation of S100 Gene Family in Brain Samples of a Subgroup of Individuals with Schizophrenia: Meta-analysis.Neuromolecular medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Glial Cell Abnormalities in Major Psychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review of Postmortem Brain Studies.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Pooled it
- The trajectory of putative astroglial dysfunction in first episode schizophrenia: a longitudinal 7-Tesla MRS study.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Simvastatin Augmentation for Patients With Early-Phase Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders: A Double-Blind, Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Trial
- Analysis of gene co-expression connectivity dynamics implicates aberrant neuron-oligodendroglia interactions in schizophrenia.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Psychosis in Huntington disease: a short update.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- Neuroglia Alterations in the Olfactory Bulbs in Patients with Schizophrenia: An Exploratory Postmortem Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Curing the brain: in search for new astrocyte-specific therapies.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Mapping spatially organized molecular and genetic signatures of schizophrenia across multiple scales in human prefrontal cortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia: Brain Deorganization and Neurorehabilitation.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Persistent priming of hypothalamic microglia is associated with sensitization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to acute stress, hyperactivity and behavioral response disruption in male rats.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Article
- Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: association with peripheral blood inflammatory signatures.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Molecular profiling of adult C. elegans glia across sexes by single-nuclear RNA-seq.Developmental cell · 2025Article
- Reduced brain structural similarity is associated with maturation, neurobiological features, and clinical status in schizophrenia.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Impact of D-Amino Acids in Schizophrenia.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Role of Glial Trace Amine Associated Receptor 1 (TAAR1) and Microbiota in Schizophrenia.Neurochemical research · 2025Review
67 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The cellular neurobiology of schizophrenia remains poorly understood. We discuss neuroimaging studies, pathological findings, and experimental work supporting the idea that glial cells might contribute to the development of schizophrenia. Experimental studies suggest that abnormalities in the differentiation competence of glial progenitor cells lead to failure in the morphological and functional maturation of oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. We propose that immune activation of microglial cells during development, superimposed upon genetic risk factors, could contribute to defective differentiation competence of glial progenitor cells. The resulting hypomyelination and disrupted white matter integrity might contribute to transmission desynchronisation and dysconnectivity, whereas the failure of astrocytic differentiation results in abnormal glial coverage and support of synapses. The delayed and deficient maturation of astrocytes might, in parallel, lead to disruption of glutamatergic, potassium, and neuromodulatory homoeostasis, resulting in dysregulated synaptic transmission. By highlighting a role for glial cells in schizophrenia, these studies potentially point to new mechanisms for disease modification.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.