Markers of vulnerability in schizophrenia

Vulnerability in schizophrenia is an integrative concept, which tries to explain the development of schizophrenia as an interaction between different individual susceptibility factors and environmental risk factors. Vulnerability markers used in genetic studies include biochemical indicators, neuroanatomical, neurophysiologic, and cognitive abnormalities. Among those, the most extensive studied markers were: evoked potentials, smooth pursuit eye movements, and attentional deficits. Some of the potential indicators presented in this paper satisfy most of the criteria necessary for a vulnerability marker, but none meets all of them. Nevertheless, they represent important markers of risk to schizophrenia. Key words: vulnerability, evoked potentials, eye movements, attentional deficits