ABSTRACT: Growing evidence for glutamate abnormalities in schizophrenia support the development of novel antipsychotic agents targeting this system. Early studies investigating modulation of the glutamate system using glycine, D-serine and sarcosine in patients with schizophrenia have demonstrated significant effects, particularly on negative symptoms, conventionally thought ... Continue Reading
Schizophrenia
STUDY: Drug-Induced Psychosis: How to Avoid Star Gazing in Schizophrenia Research by Looking at More Obvious Sources of Light
ABSTRACT: The prevalent view today is that schizophrenia is a syndrome rather than a specific disease. Liability to schizophrenia is highly heritable. It appears that multiple genetic and environmental factors operate together to push individuals over a threshold into expressing the characteristic clinical picture. One environmental factor which has been curiously neglected ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Peripheral Endocannabinoid System Dysregulation in First-Episode Psychosis
ABSTRACT: Several hypotheses involving alterations of the immune system have been proposed among etiological explanations for psychotic disorders. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has a homeostatic role as an endogenous neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory system. Alterations of this system have been associated with psychosis. Cannabis use is a robust risk factor for these ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Reversible Disruption of Pre-Pulse Inhibition in Hypomorphic-Inducible and Reversible CB1-/- Mice
ABSTRACT: Although several genes are implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, in animal models for such a severe mental illness only some aspects of the pathology can be represented (endophenotypes). Genetically modified mice are currently being used to obtain or characterize such endophenotypes. Since its cloning and characterization CB1 receptor has increasingly ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Stronger evidence is needed before accepting that cannabis plays an important role in the aetiology of schizophrenia in the population
ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia is a debilitating but poorly understood condition with very few known modifiable risk factors. Cannabis use can acutely induce psychoticEXPERIENCES, but its causal relationship to schizophrenia is less well understood. Longitudinal cohort studies suggest that the association between cannabis and psychotic outcomes is not due to chance or reverse ... Continue Reading