Bonjour,Voici la reproduction d'un article de journal traitant des dernières avancées dans la recherche sur la schizophrénie:
'Master molecule' could be pathway to treating schizophrenia
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor, telegraph.co.uk
(Filed: 24/11/2003)
A study of mice given psychosis-inducing drugs has provided a valuable new insight into how to treat schizophrenia, a spectrum of serious mental disorders that affects one person in every 100.
It shows that three common drugs of abuse, each acting on a different messenger chemical in the brain, all produce the same schizophrenia-like symptoms by acting on a single "master molecule".
"This is remarkable," said Prof Paul Greengard, the Nobel prizewinning co-author of the research. "It certainly indicates new targets for the development of antipsychotic drugs."
Researchers at Rockefeller University, New York, and colleagues in pharmaceutical and biotech companies liken the crucial protein, known as DARPP-32, to "the thin neck in an hourglass", through which all signals taken into a nerve cell must pass and be processed.
Three drugs, LSD, PCP ("angel dust") and amphetamine have long been known to trigger schizophrenia-like behaviour in mice and humans. Although they act on different messenger chemicals in the brain (serotonin, glutamate, and dopamine), all were linked to DARPP-32 by the team.
"For the first time, we can explain through a molecular model why these drugs all produce the same kind of behavioural symptoms," said Prof Per Svenningsson, the paper's first author.
Although DARPP-32 is not thought to be the root cause of schizophrenia, it does open new avenues in which to treat the disease: this was underlined when the team blocked one of the 205 amino acids that make up DARPP-32 and found that this abolished the psychotic effects of the drugs.
The study answers a long-standing debate in psychiatry as to which messenger chemical in the brain is primarily responsible for schizophrenia. "Everyone was right, because each of these drugs work on a common pathway regulated by DARPP-32," said Prof Greengard.
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