A synthetic version of a hormone quelled psychosis-like symptoms in rats and targets a brain pathway that could lead to a new treatment for schizophrenia, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience.
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health researchers report that amylin, which is secreted by the pancreas and which penetrates into the brain, helps rats with schizophrenia-like symptoms. The surprising finding was the result of collaborative research by Dr. Brian Baldo, who studies addiction, food reward, and satiation in the brain, and his wife, Dr. Vaishali Bakshi, who studies schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. They met as undergraduates at Harvard two decades ago, but this paper is the first research collaboration for the couple.