The Nature of Dopamine Dysfunction in Schizophrenia and What This Means for Treatment

CONTEXT: Current drug treatments for schizophrenia are inadequate for many patients, and despite 5 decades of drug discovery, all of the treatments rely on the same mechanism: dopamine D(2) receptor blockade. Understanding the pathophysiology of the disorder is thus likely to be critical to the rational development of new treatments for schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nature of the dopaminergic dysfunction in schizophrenia using meta-analysis of in vivo studies. DATA SOURCES: The MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies from January 1, 1960, to July 1, 2011. STUDY SELECTION: A total of 44 studies were identified that compared 618 patients with schizophrenia with 606…

• MR
  Medical Research Council
• BR
  Biomedical Research Council