Current Neuropharmacology - Volume 1, Issue 4, 2003

Smooth pursuit (SPEM) and antisaccade eye movements have been studied to elucidate the genetics and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In recent years, a rapidly growing literature has emerged on pharmacological influences on eye movements. This review focuses on pharmacological studies of the SPEM and antisaccade tasks with relevance to schizophrenia and aims to answer the particular questions: (1) whether pha Read More

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Recent human genetic studies have identified five genes that are linked to Parkinson's disease (PD): α-synuclein, parkin, UCH-L1, DJ-1 and NR4A2. Among these genes, a variety of mutations in the human parkin locus have been found in many PD cases, both familial and sporadic. Parkin appears t Read More

The ability to adapt to stress is an important defensive function of a living body, and impairment of this ability may contribute to some stress-related disorders. Thus, the examination of brain mechanisms involved in stress adaptation could help to pave the way for new therapeutic strategies for stress-related affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression. The present review focuses on the roles of brain seroto Read More

Approximately 15% of cerebral strokes in adults are due to bleeding into the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage, ICH). This can be related to hypertension, vascular anomalies, or coagulopathy. Prognosis following ICH is worse than that following ischemic stroke. In addition, head trauma and premature birth are associated with ICH. Inflammation occurs after ICH and might be an important part of the pathogenesis of brai Read More

Considerable evidence indicates that the GABAA receptor is a molecular target for general anesthetics in the CNS. However, most clinical anesthetists are puzzled by this (unifying) observation as the clinical features of anesthesia differ among anesthetics. Central noradrenergic neurons are known to regulate physiological functions including the sleep-wake cycle, motor activity, and autonomic nervous function. T Read More

Borna Disease Virus (BDV) is a neurotropic RNA virus worldwide in distribution that causes movement, behavior or cognitive disorders in animal species. Borna Disease the illness ranges from asymptomatic to fatal meningoencephalitis across naturally infected warmblooded (mammalian and bird) species. There are also reported associations of the virus with neuropsychiatric diseases of man. Development of experimentally in Read More

Schizophrenia is a complex and chronic disease that affects multiple aspects of cognition and behavior, including attention, perception, thought processes, emotion and volition. However, the pathophysiology of schizophrenia has not yet been fully clarified. For more than a decade, the dopamine hypothesis has been the most influential hypothesis in schizophrenia research. It postulates that schizophrenia is a manifestat Read More