PSYCH 14 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: East Los Angeles College, Atypical Antipsychotic, Dopaminergic Pathways
Document Summary
Being born in winter when infections more prevalent serves as a risk factor. Perinatal birth complications/ hypoxia or other injuries. Size of each effect is small: each factor alone does not explain. Structural scans reveal that in schizophrenia there is: ~10% reduction in the volume of cortex. Increase in the volume of the lateral ventricles. Differences are present very early-on in illness. Suggests these brain differences are unlikely caused by treatment. Focuses on the function of specific dopamine pathways in the limbic area of the brain. Hypothesizes that schizophrenia is related to excessive da transmission in the cortical and limbic circuits in the brain. Hypothesis grew out of attempts to understand how antipsychotic drugs improve the adjustment of schizophrenic patients. Usage of certain drugs (amphetamines, cocaine, l-dopa) leads to temporary or permanent psychotics symptoms by increasing dopamine transmission. There is little direct evidence in support of a hyperdopaminergic states.
