ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia is a complex mental health disorder with positive, negative and cognitive symptom domains. Approximately one third of patients are resistant to currently available medication. New therapeutic targets and a better understanding of the basic biological processes that drive pathogenesis are needed in order to develop therapies that will improve quality ... Continue Reading
Schizophrenia
STUDY: Paranoid Schizophrenia is Characterized by Increased CB1 Receptor Binding in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
ABSTRACT: A number of studies suggest a dysregulation of the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia (SCZ). In the present study, we examined cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1R) binding and mRNA expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (Brodmann's area 46) of SCZ patients and controls, post-mortem. Receptor density was investigated using autoradiography ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Schizophrenia – Appraising the Risks of Reefer Madness
ABSTRACT: Editor’s Note: Studies that have tied cannabis use to schizophrenia in the developing brain are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marijuana. Are different strains and synthetic cannabinoids especially dangerous? Are we doing enough to educate young people on the risks? Does marijuana use lower IQ? Where is the line between medical marijuana and ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Adolescent cannabis use and psychosis: epidemiology and neurodevelopmental models
ABSTRACT: Cannabis is one of the most widely used illicit drugs among adolescents, and most users firstEXPERIMENT with it in adolescence. Adolescence is a critical phase for brain development, characterized by neuronal maturation and rearrangement processes, such as myelination, synaptic pruning and dendritic plasticity. The endocannabinoid system plays an important role in ... Continue Reading
STUDY: Realistic expectations of prepulse inhibition in translational models for schizophrenia research
ABSTRACT: Introduction Under specific conditions, a weak lead stimulus, or “prepulse”, can inhibit the startling effects of a subsequent intense abrupt stimulus. This startle-inhibiting effect of the prepulse, termed “prepulse inhibition” (PPI), is widely used in translational models to understand the biology of brain based inhibitory mechanisms and their deficiency in ... Continue Reading