Psychotomimetic effects of drugs--a common pathway to schizophrenia?

Abstract

Researchers have long been interested in identifying a final, common pathway for psychosis. The existence of such a pathway is implied by the fact that various drug intoxications, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, psychotic depression, severe sensory deprivation, and Alzheimer's disease can all cause similar psychotic phenomena. Fueling the interest in finding a common pathway is the possibility that the side effects of antidopaminergic neuroleptic agents — principally movement disorders, such as tardive dyskinesia — might be averted by precise targeting of molecules downstream of the dopamine receptor. Svenningsson and colleagues1 recently described a candidate pathway in a mouse model. Focusing . . .