Relation of CSF neurotensin concentrations to symptoms and drug response of psychotic patients

Article Abstract:

Neurotensin is an amino acid peptide which acts as a chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) between nerve cells (neurons) in the central nervous system (CNS). Peptides are molecules formed by fewer than 50 amino acids linked in a chain-like form which either have stimulating (excitatory) or inhibitory effects on the nervous system. Neurotensin is considered an excitatory regulator. It plays a role in pain perception, pain regulation and sensitivity, arousal and body temperature. Research has indicated that neurotensin modulates dopamine transmission. Dopamine regulates muscle movement and motivational arousal, and greatly affects emotions and behavior. Schizophrenics are often treated with neuroleptics (antipsychotic medications) which block the action of dopamine, since it is believed that an excess of dopamine in combination with sensitive dopamine receptors is a cause of psychosis. When neurotensin is administered, many of its effects appear to be very similar to those of neuroleptic drugs, suggesting that neurotensin may act as a natural antipsychotic in the CNS. To evaluate the role of neurotensin in psychosis, 20 newly admitted psychotic patients who had been free of neuroleptic drugs for several weeks underwent a spinal tap so that cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) could be withdrawn and examined for neurotensin. Data analysis revealed that the psychotic patients who had low neurotensin concentrations (below the 40th percentile) demonstrated more hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder and behavioral disorganization than the other patients. The low-neurotensin group also demonstrated a very slow clinical response (11 to 35 days) to treatment with neuroleptics. It was also found that neuroleptic treatment increased CSF neurotensin. The possibility of developing a new class of antipsychotic drug which would work to increase CSF neurotensin directly is suggested, so that the many adverse side effects caused by classic neuroleptics could be avoided. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Physiological aspects, Peptides, Schizophrenia, Psychoses, Psychotic disorders, Psychopharmacology, Neurotensin

---

Functional brain imaging: twenty-first century phrenology or psychobiological advance for the millennium?

Article Abstract:

A significant paradigm shift has occurred in the field of neurochemical pathology for major neuropsychiatric disorders since about 1996. The field has progressed from a reliance on animal psychopathology models, which featured a number of disadvantages, to the use of multidisciplinary methods of which functional brain imaging is one of the most promising but least understood. Positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, functional magnetic resonance imaging and single photon emission computed tomography are four functional brain imaging methods that are evaluated.

Editorial, Brain, Diagnostic imaging, Brain mapping, Brain chemistry, Neurochemistry

---

Comorbid postpartum depression and bereavement: a complicated case

Article Abstract:

A woman went through acute depression and bereavement after the postpartum death of her son. She cried uncontrollably everyday, suffered from insomnia and barely ate. She was given venlafaxine to prevent pospartum-onset major depression. Her case shows how both depression and bereavement should both be addressed according to the course of treatment.

Case studies, Postpartum depression, Bereavement

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: The evolution of health care: implications for the training and careers of psychologists. Training psychologists to become competent suicide assessment interviewers: commentary on Rosenberg's (1999) suicide prevention training model
• Abstracts: Inverse relationship between defensiveness and lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorder. Interhemispheric transfer deficit and alexithymia
• Abstracts: Personality and response to tricyclic antidepressants in depressed patients. Dose-related paranoid reaction associated with fluoxetine
• Abstracts: Cults and zealous self-help movements: a psychiatric perspective. Combined Alcoholics Anonymous and professional care for addicted physicians
• Abstracts: Glucocorticoid level and neuropsychiatric symptoms in homosexual men with HIV infection. New York State Psychiatric Institute

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.