The Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia Essay -- Biology Essays Resea

The Dopamine Hypothesis of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a disease that has plagued societies around the world for centuries, although it was not given its egg name until 1911. It is characterized by the preticuloendothelial systemence of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms argon so named because of the presence of altered behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations (usually auditory), extreme emotions, fire motor activity, and incoherent thoughts and speech. (1,2) In contrast, negative symptoms are described as a lack of behaviors, such as emotion, speech, social interaction, and action. (1,2) These symptoms are by no means concrete. Not all schizophrenic patients will butt on all or even a majority of these symptoms, and there is many disagreement in the psychiatric community as to the exact symptomatic criteria. In addition, there is a great deal of debate as to the causes of the disease. While some proposed causes have been proven false, such as grown parent ing and poor will power (2), there are many theories that remain. wizard of the most famous and most debatable is the dopamine hypothesis. The proposed hypothesis states that the header of schizophrenic patients get outs more dopamine than normal brains. It is this increased dopamine that is believed to be responsible for the symptoms of the disease. However, the is much debate in the scientific community as to the exact mechanism by which altered dopamine levels, especially in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and limbic system, produce schizophrenia. There is much clinical evidense that provides bear out for the dopamine hypothesis. The first evidense that dopamine may be involved in schizophrenia came from amphetamine users. Amphetamines work by causing the brain to produce mo... ...ital Cortex Focal Abnormalities in Orbitofrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia From Meador-Woodruff lab Homepage (University of Michigan) http//www-personal.umich.edu/himmw/pubs/index.html(5) Detailed Description of Our Studies From Meador-Woodruff Laboratory http//www.umich.edu/jmwlab/(6) Dopamine, Glutamate, and the Neurochemical Circuitry of Schizophrenia From Department of Psychiatry Homepage (University of Michigan) http//www.med.umich.edu/mhri/res/95/meadorwoodruff/meadorwoodruff.html(7) Schizophrenia Trigger Described From NARSAD Homepage http//www.mhsource.com/advocacy/narsad/trigger/html/?_requestid=1006565(8) neutered Neural Circuits in Schizophrenia http//www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/fr51.html(9)Rosenzweig, M.R., Leiman, A.L., & Breedlove, A.M. Biological Psychology. Sinaur Associates Inc Massachusetts, 1996