Proceedings of the Australian Neuroscience Society Symposium: Schizophrenia A PREDICTED CORTICAL SEROTONERGIC/CHOLINERGIC/GABAERGIC INTERFACE AS A SITE OF PATHOLOGY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Author: Dean, Brian

Source: Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, Volume 28, Numbers 1-2, January/February 2001 , pp. 74-78(5)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

SUMMARY

1. The pathological process that precipitates schizophrenia has yet to be identified. However, many lines of evidence suggest that a change in the functioning of the frontal cortex is an important abnormality that underlies schizophrenia.

2. Studies in Brodmann's area 9, obtained post-mortem, have shown changes in 5-hydroxytryptamine 5-HT_2A, muscarinic M₁ and GABA_A receptors in tissue from subjects with schizophrenia.

3. Animal studies suggest a site in the cortex where there would be an interaction between serotonergic and cholinergic innervation and that this interaction would involve the 5-HT_2A and the M₁ receptor. This site, in turn, would be a potent modulator of GABA activity and, hence, levels of GABA_A receptors.

4. From combining these data, a theoretical site is proposed that, if proven to exist in human cortex, is likely to be central to the pathology of that illness.

Keywords: acetylcholine; frontal cortex; GABA; 5-hydroxytryptamine; post-mortem; schizophrenia; serotonin

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1681.2001.03401.x

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