Clinical: Carlsson Et Al Flashcards
What was the aim of Carlsson et al’s review?
To review the evidence for and against the dopamine hypothesis and consider the role of other neurotransmitters.
What was the result of the review conducted by carlsson et al on the dopamine hypothesis?
It supported it. Evidence displayed how PET scan studies revealed that amphetamines (dopamine agonist) enhances schizophrenic symptoms. However it cannot be applied to everyone.
What did the review conducted by carlsson et al discover about which neurotransmitter cause schizophrenia?
It is unlikely that dopamine is the only neurotransmitter involved. They found that glutamate is a powerful antagonist which increases dopamine activity.
How does glutamate effect other neurotransmitters?
Acts like a brake, reducing dopamine activity.
Low glutamate can cause an increase or a decrease in dopamine.
Disruption in the balance can lead to symptoms of schizophrenia.
How does the glutamate and dopamine interaction vary in the location of the brain? Like this to schizophrenia.
Hypoglutamatergia (low glutamate) in the cerebral cortex= negative symptoms
Hypoglutamatergia in the subcortical regions= positive symptoms.
What did carlsson et al’s review discover about the thalamus filter?
That the thalamus may be activated or deactivated depending on which pathway in the brain is activated.
What did Carlsson et al’s review discover about the 2 schizophrenia models?
Hyperdominergic model: (role of dopamine) increased dopamine leads to schizophrenic symptoms
Hypoglutamatergic model: (role of glutamate) glutamate can increase or decrease dopamine.
What did Carlsson et al’s review discover about biological treatments of schizophrenia?
People with different symptom sets can be treated with different drugs.
Evaluate the generalisability of Carlsson et al’s review.
+ Used 33 studies= good representation of status quo.
- All around 2000, may be time locked.
-Animal studies included (not entirely generalisable to humans)
Evaluate the reliability of Carlsson et al’s review.
+Lab experiments using standardised PET brain scanning techniques (replicable)
Evaluate the application of Carlsson et al’s review.
+ Improved drug treatments of Sz
Gave a better understanding of side effects of doperminergic treatment
Evaluate the validity of Carlsson et al’s review.
- Other treatments like clozapine focus on glutamate levels which reduce symptoms and side effects of Sz
+ Dopamine and Glutamate hypothesis are linked, Carlsson agreed with this and concluded that further research was necessary.
Evaluate the effects of Carlsson et al’s review.
+ No human ethical issues other than the use of PET scans
- Animal studies that involved injecting drugs into rodents to induce Sz symptoms (no protection from harm)
What are the benefits of using secondary data?
+ Cost and time efficient
+ Large sample due to multiple studies
