schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of ˜1% that imposes a huge toll on patients, their families and public health services worldwide. delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior and negative symptoms constitute the core symptoms of schizophrenia. although the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a prominent role in t...

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with a decline in cognitive abilities. Patients also frequently have noncognitive symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, apathy, and psychosis, that impair daily living. The most commonly prescribed treatments for Alzheimer's disease are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, such as donepezil and galantamine. Enhanced cholinergic functio...

Serotonergic medications are used for the prevention and treatment of depression during pregnancy. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors serotonin-norepinephrine (SNRIs) can cause poor neonatal adaptation, which has been attributed to withdrawal versus toxicity. Bupropion, a norepinephrine-dopamine inhibitor, is often as an adjunctive agent selective or SNRIs refractory depression. Quetiapine...

The neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine both have a critical role in the underlying neurobiology of different behaviors. With focus on the interplay between dopamine and serotonin, it has been proposed that dopamine biases behavior towards habitual responding, and with serotonin offsetting this phenomenon and directing the balance toward more flexible, goal-directed responding. The present...

The therapeutic agents currently used to treat schizophrenia effectively improve psychotic symptoms; however, they are limited by adverse effects and poor efficacy when negative symptoms of the illness and cognitive dysfunction are considered. While optimal pharmacotherapy would directly target the neuropathology of schizophrenia neither the underlying neurobiological substrates of the behavior...

The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia has been one of the most enduring ideas in psychiatry. Initially, the emphasis was on a role of hyperdopaminergia in the etiology of schizophrenia (version I), but it was subsequently reconceptualized to specify subcortical hyperdopaminergia with prefrontal hypodopaminergia (version II). However, these hypotheses focused too narrowly on dopamine itself, ...

In the present study, interactions of dopamine receptor agonists and antagonists with water swimming stress (WSS) on naloxone-induced jumping in morphine-dependent mice were examined. Mice were rendered dependent as described in the methods section. The opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone (1 mg/kg), was injected to elicit jumping (as a withdrawal sign). The first group exposed to WSS in the pr...

neuroleptic malignant syndrome (nms) is unusual but could be a lethal reaction associated with neuroleptic drugs. it occurs in almost 0.07-2.2% of patients under treatment with neuroleptics. there are some medical treatments that may also be helpful for its treatment, including dopamine agonists, muscle relaxants, and electroconvulsive therapy (ect). we present this case to alert the clinicians...

In this review, the altered functions of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the extrapyramidal system in primary Parkinson syndrome are pointed out. In this syndrome, an altered neurotransmitter balance in the nuclei of the extrapyramidal system with hypoactivity of the dopaminergic and GABAergic neurotransmitter systems and hypoactivity of the muscarinic cholinergic and glutamatergic neuro...