Increased heavy-tailed distribution of synaptic weights distorts neurocomputation in schizophrenia

Abstract

Several lines of evidence strongly implicate synaptic dysfunction in schizophrenia (SZ), but a direct causal link between synaptic pathology and behavioral manifestations remains elusive. Spine size, a proxy for synaptic strength, has a highly skewed distribution with a long-tail that is particularly exacerbated in SZ. Such data skewness is a fairly common phenomenon in many areas of science, and components in the heavy long-tail distribution are highly influential in maintaining network connectivity. I emphasize the critical importance of accurately assessing the distribution of skewness of synaptic weights within individual neurons and its impact on the neural computation and flow of information across neural circuits, leading to a critical step in understanding the synaptopathology underlying SZ.