The ‘Glutamate Theory’ of the Pathogenesis of Schizophrenia Essay

Introduction: There is immense study on the role of glutamate in Schizophrenia. Even so to date the current antipsychotics do not control major glutamatergic action albeit a study at the NMDA receptor location such as the glycine transport inhibitors may give new novel evidence for the discovery of future antipsychotics (Olney et al., 1999) The Dopamine hypothesis of Schizophrenia The dopamine (DA) theory of schizophrenia has subjugated the effort to justify the behaviours Schizophrenia is a psychiatric bedlam relating to the messing up of routine thinking, sentiment and every day activities. Egan & Weinberger (1979) described schizophrenia as when a subject or an individual is unable to differentiate what is genuine and unreal. The clinical characteristics of the various disarray of schizophrenia commonly come into view in the late adolescence or the early adulthood. Schizophrenia can exhibit either positive or negative or both signs. Whereas the positive sign is characterised by paranoia, false principles or hallucination, the negative aspect is marked by depression, withdrawal from communal connections. But pleasing of social responses shortfall in attention and memory are ascribed to cognitive effect. Generally, schizophrenia is considered to be neurodevelopment unrest rather than neurogenerative disorder (Harrison et al., 2003). There are several divi sions in the brain that can be affected by schizophrenia. The atypical function of the basal ganglia is considered to play a role in paranoia and hallucination. The frontal lobe of the brain plays a role in problem solving and reasoning. Conversely a schizophrenic will have a deficiency in the lobe and as result, having difficulty in forecast and coordinating. Adjustment... ...ts. Neuroscience, 90(3), 823-32. Kim,J.S.,Kornhuber,H.H.,Schmid-Burgk,W.,Hlozmuller,B.(1980) Low cerebrospinal fluid glutamate in schizophrenic patients and a new hypothesis on schizophrenia. Neuorocience Letters 20:379-382 Kotter, H. (1994) Postsynaptic integration of gluamatergic and dopamine signals in the striatum. Progression in Neurobiology. 44:163-196 Olney, J. W., Newcomer, J. W., & Farber, B. B. (1999). NMDA receptor hypofunction model of schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 33: 523-533. Stanley, J. A., Williamson, P. C., Drost, D. J., Carr, T. J., Rylett, R. J., Malla, A., Thompson R. T. (1996). An in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of schizophrenia patiens. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22(4), 597-609. Weinberger, D.A (1993) Connection approach to the prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuropsychiatry. 5:241-253