Schizophrenia: a subcortical neurotransmitter imbalance syndrome?
Recent animal experiments suggest that glutamate plays a fundamental role in the control of psychomotor activity. This is illustrated by the finding that even in the virtually complete absence of dopamine, a marked behavioral activation is produced in mice following suppression of glutamatergic neurotransmission. This article discusses the possibility that a deficient activity within the cortico-striatal glutamatergic pathway is an important pathophysiological component in some cases of schizophrenia and that glutamatergic agonists may prove beneficial in this disorder. In a broader perspective, schizophrenia may be looked upon as a syndrome induced by a neurotransmitter imbalance in a feedback-regulated system, where dopamine and glutamate play a crucial role in controlling arousal and the processing of signals from the outer world to the cerebral cortex via the thalamus.
Carlsson
M
M
Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
Carlsson
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000502:physiology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
D005971:Glutamates; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D004298:Dopamine