Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Laureate Lecture on Molecule Important to SZ

Special Report from Schizophrenia.com:

In April 2005, Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul Greengard gave a lecture at Emory University regarding his work on a certain brain molecule called DARPP-32. Called a 'master molecule' by some in scientific literature, DARPP-32 is affected profoundly by many of the neurotransmitters (most notably, dopamine and glutamate) that are implicated in schizophrenia symptoms. Moreover, Greengard's laboratory has shown that mutant mice who lack this brain molecule do not show the same schizophrenia-like behavioral effects to psychotropic compounds such as LSD or PCP. This work suggests that DARPP-32 may be an important therapeutic target in the future, due to its apparent ability to regulate such complex behaviors.

A summary of Dr. Greengard's work, as well as a summary of the lecture presented at Emory in April 2005, is available at http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/research.html#greengard. We hope to see more encouraging work coming from Dr. Greengard's laboratory in the future regarding the causes and treatment of schizophrenia symptoms.

Special thanks to Dr. Greengard and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Emory University, for permission to reproduce the lecture on this website.