Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered a key mechanism that explains how compounds they’re developing can suppress schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice without side effects.
On the basis of this discovery, reported this month in the journal Neuron, “we now have much stronger understanding of the therapeutic potential and mechanism of action of compounds that are advancing to clinical development,” said P. Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery.
An estimated 3 million Americans have schizophrenia, which is associated with excessive amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the forebrain called the striatum.
Current medications reduce hallucinations and delusions, the hallmark of schizophrenia, by blocking dopamine receptors. But because they also block dopamine receptors in the cerebral cortex, they can worsen cognitive difficulties.
That’s why a new treatment approach is urgently needed, said Conn, the Lee E. Limbird Professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
More info:
Research Paper:
Antipsychotic-like Effects of M4 Positive Allosteric Modulators Are Mediated by CB2 Receptor-Dependent Inhibition of Dopamine Release
A good question. I do wonder with these mouse studies what is exactly meant by “schizophrenia like” symptoms. I think it would be difficult to tell if mice were hallucinating unless there’s certain behaviours that hint that they are.
This are the type of news that i like! @MeghillaGorilla1 i know right? When this will be available as a treatment and does it work in all of the symptoms of sz?
