Schizophrenia Flashcards
symptoms and incidence
effects 1% of the population
“splitting of psychic functions”
Symptoms
- bizarre dilusions
- inappropriate affect
- hallucinations
- incoherent thought
- odd behaviour
genetics
45% MZ
10% DZ
Environment
exposure to stressors is common before an episode and there is a correlation between the amount of stress and the severity of the episode.
Specific environmental stressor:
Bullying
how were anti- psychotic drugs discovered
LUck
what are the names of the drugs used to treat
Chlorpromazine (originally marketed as an anti- histamine)
Reserpine (snake root plant)
what are the similarities between the drugs
- both take 2 to 3 weeks to work
- parkinsons symptoms start to emerge
- DOPAMINE in the nigro- striatal pathway
how to the drugs work on dopamine
Reserpine- depletes vesicles so reduces amount of DA that can be released.
Chlorpromazine- blocks DA receptors so stops DA from working
Chlorpromazine
- false transmitter - ANTAGONIST
- binds to DA receptors but has no effect
reserpine
depletes the brain of DA
the dopamine hypothesis
- too high = schizphrenia
- too low= parkinsons
Evidence
Cocaine and amphetamine psychosis
Efficacy of anti- psychotic medication is correlated with its ability to bind with DA receptors.
what is the drug Haliperidol
Has high potency because it binds specifically to the D2 receptor
Newer drugs?
- atypical antipsychotics:
Clozapine
what receptors are the drugs binding to
The D2 receptors- all drugs which have efficacy for treating schizophrenia bind to a D2 receptor. (D2, D3, D4)
what type of receptor is dopamine
a metabotropic receptor- this means that they work with G proteins, have a complicated structure, work with enzymes.
D2 negatively coupled to these enzymes
D1 increases.
