Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that disrupts brain activity producing hallucinations, delusions, and other cognitive disturbances. Researchers have long searched for genetic influences in the disease, but genetic mutations have been identified in only a small fraction fewer than a quarter of sequenced patients.
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Anti-hyperlipidemia drug improves brain connectivity in mouse models of schizophrenia
New therapies that improve connectivity and circuitry in the brain of people with schizophrenia could result from the discovery by a RIKEN-led team of a potential new target for drugs to treat the psychiatric disorder
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Treatment for schizophrenia has not changed much in 60 years. Doctors still generally prescribe medicines designed to tame psychosis by blocking neurotransmitter signaling in the brain. While the drugs ease symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations, they leave many other aspects of the illness untreated and their side effects can be off-putting to many patients. Researchers are thus keen to find new targets for drugs.
In recent years, researchers have begun using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) not just for better understanding the neural bases of psychiatric illness, but also for experimental treatment of depression, ADHD, anxiety, PTSD, substance use disorder, and schizophrenia with a technique called real-time fMRI neurofeedback.