Network interactions in schizophrenia - therapeutic implications

Research into the role of neurotransmitters and neural networks in the path ogenesis of schizophrenia has been remarkably successful in recent years. T he hypothesis postulating a dopamine dysfunction. which has for a long time been supported only by indirect evidence, has received direct support by m eans of sophisticated imaging techniques. Interactions between dopamine and several other neurotransmitters in complex neural networks have been revea led, largely thanks to the advent of an array of new pharmacological probes . Two major pharmacological models of schizophrenia, based on hyperdopamine rgia and hypoglutamatergia, respectively, are ready for clinical testing. I n addition, the hypothesis of network stabilization as a major therapeutic strategy in psychiatry and neurology has now reached the 'proof-of-concept' level. From a therapeutic perspective, several ongoing and forthcoming cli nical trials, using drugs acting on dopaminergic, serotonergic and glutamat ergic receptors, give rise to optimism. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.