Brain Receptors in Schizophrenia: It’s Not Just About Dopamine and Serotonin

For many years, researchers have used phencyclidine and ketamine in experimental models of schizophrenia. These antagonists of the glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor cause positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms similar to schizophrenia in animals and healthy individuals and worsen symptoms in patients. The group II metabotropic glutamate receptors mGluR2 and mGluR3 are widely distributed in the brain, have modulatory roles, and influence NMDA receptor function. They are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and to present potential targets for therapeutic intervention. In this postmortem study, researchers examined mGluR2 and mGluR3 protein expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), te…