Workings Of Anti-Psychotic Drugs In The Living Brain Revealed By New Biosensors

[HuckleB]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/173913.php


"Scientists have resolved a question about how a popular class of drugs used to treat schizophrenia works using biosensors that reveal previously hidden components of chemical communication in the brain.

Although delusions and hallucinations characterize the illness, people with schizophrenia also struggle to sustain attention or recall information in a particular order, difficulties that interfere with their ability to hold a job or function well, said Lee Schroeder, a student in the medical scientist training program at the University of California, San Diego.

A class of drugs called atypical neuroleptics has become the most commonly prescribed treatment for schizophrenia, in part for their ability to improve these cognitive functions. How they altered brain chemistry was uncertain, however. Atypical neuroleptics elicit large releases of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. But they had also been shown to barricade a particular type of receptor on the receiving cell's surface, which would block the message.

The question was, which action prevails? The answer might guide the development of more effective drugs with fewer side effects. "The hunt is now on," said Schroeder, who shares lead authorship on the paper. "What about these drugs helps? That's where our cells come in."

..."



---------------------------------------------------------


Berry interesting, or so I think.

[Warpy]

1. I keep saying we're in the infancy of understanding brain chemistry

and brain structure, delayed by nearly a century by the maunderings of Freud and his disciples. Freud had abandoned the study of brain structure in mental illness in favor of his crazy theories. He was a great salesman, so those theories prevailed for too many years.

We're just now developing the tools to see what happens within living tissues and being able to compare healthy structure/chemistry with pathology in the brain.

Eventually I hope it leads to treatment for devastating illnesses like schizophrenia that schizophrenics will want to use instead of the ones we have now that bludgeon the disease while producing horrific side effects.

[HuckleB]

2. Exactly!

:hi: