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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Antipsychotic drug shrinks the brain
It turns out that haloperidol, a commonly-prescribed antipsychotic drug, shrinks the brain within hours of administration, specifically diminishing grey-matter volume in the striatum — a region that mediates movement. The effect is reversible. The Meyer-Lindberg group doing the study suggests that by acting on Dopamine D2 receptors it may downsize synaptic connections, and thus cause the lapses in motor control that affect many patients on antipsychotics.
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Could this just be an osmolytic effect?
ReplyDeleteY'know, That is a good suggestion. A further glance at the article, which appears to be open access, shows that they found changes in connectivity. The question would be whether osmotic volume changes would do that.
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