The incoherence hypothesis of schizophrenia: Based on decomposed oligodendrocyte–axonic relations

SummaryBased on the findings of white matter abnormalities in brains with schizophrenia, it is hypothesized that this disorder may be responsible for symptoms of incoherence of schizophrenia. It is supposed that the processes of oligodendrocytes tie the various properties of axonic information conductance together into categories. For this oligodendrocytic computation capacity a formalism is proposed. In the case of a decrease or loss of oligodendroglia, a brain with schizophrenia is unable to categorize information processing, so that on a behavioral level symptoms of incoherence (thought disorder, etc.) occur. Similarities and differences in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia are also shortly discussed. Together, a decomposition of the oligodendrocyte–axonic system may be responsible for symptoms of incoherence in schizophrenia.