Schizophrenia is a brain, a mental disorder, so the studies of the scientists are lead towards brain analyze. For this are necessary many sophisticated machines and this are very expensive. That kind of researches are made in biggest medical centers and institutions that can afford that technology.
They are using computer technology, such magnetic resonance imaging and computer tomography to see brain's structure and activity, comparing living patients with death patients brains. Also they analyze brains of normal people with the brains of schizophrenia patients.
Why are they doing this? To see the differences between normal people brains and schizophrenic patients brains, to see more specific were are the differences, and than to see what we must treat and to find how to treat.
From their research it seems that:
The brains of those with schizophrenia are smaller than of normal people. Also, after their death schizophrenia patients brains are distorting faster than normal persons brains.
The prefrontal lobe of schizophrenia people sometimes is either atrophied or abnormal developed.
The brains of schizophrenia patients either produce to much dopamine, or are very sensitive to dopamine (dopamine is a neurotransmitter thought to be in connection with schizophrenia causes ).
Another important research area is linked to genetic. There seems to be ten genes in schizophrenia pathology. Neuregulin 1 is one of them. Family predisposition, heredity role is an important point of study too.
Other causes might be viral infection at pregnant women, exposure to toxic gases(like lead) of pregnant women; some autoimmune ills can play an important role too.
