Scientists at Imperial College London may have found a route to
new drugs that could treat schizophrenia, one of the most common
mental illnesses, more effectively than current drugs. Till now
drugs that target schizophrenia block the effects of a brain
chemical (or neurotransmitter) called dopamine because it’s
abnormally high in people who have the illness. Imperial
researchers have discovered what lies behind those high dopamine
levels: changes in another brain chemical, called glutamate.
They found specifically that brain cells releasing glutamate can
influence the activity of cells that release dopamine. The
findings, published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal
Biological Psychiatry, suggest a drug that could somehow
interfere with the signals coming from the glutamate cells could
help prevent psychotic symptoms in people with schizophrenia. In
their study of 16 people with an at-risk mental state for
psychosis and 12 healthy volunteers, Imperial’s researchers
found a strong correlation between glutam