Neurotransmitters in schizophrenia

[Scooter12]

Can anyone explain how the function of serotonin, glutamate, and GABA is altered in schizophrenia?

Edited April 1, 2017 by Scooter12

[Velocity_Boy]

Can anyone explain how the function of serotonin, glutamate, and GABA is altered in schizophrenia?

 

If I remember from my undergrad Psych classes..I thought it was abnormal dopamine levels in the limbic and prefrontal cortex that played the major role as far as neurotransmitter problems in schizophrenics. It's an inhibitory nt.

But yeah, there's now a so called Revised Dopamine Hypothesis that says those same brain areas also have abnormal levels of those nt's you named, as well as acetylcholine.

 

Sorry I don't know what the exact circuitry is. But I know that if your brain is lacking in a certain nt, say, serotonin, an effective medication will increase the levels of it. And it does do not by having those chemicals in the medication itself, but rather it causes more of that nt to be floating free in the brain. It does this by curtailing the uptake of the nt by the dendrite and it's receptor cells. This is why that newer class of antidepressant meds are called SSRIs. Standing for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.

 

I am guessing then, that to increase any nt the type of need would work via the same Dynamics? Do...To increase dopamine levels we'd have a SDRI?

[Scooter12]

Thank you for your reply! I'm on top of it now