BDNF and Cognitive impairment: In addition, the plasma BDNF levels in schizophrenic patients are remarkably lower than those in the controls, which is predicted to be associated with the decreased hippocampal volume and cognitive impairments in first-episode and chronic SCZ [316, 317]. These findings suggest that the downregulation of neurotrophic factors could be responsible for neural maldevelopment and disturbed neural plasticity in the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenic psychoses.