One reason for cognitive problems in schizophrenia & Alzheimer’s

03/2013

New findings support a mathematical model predicting that the slow, steady firing of neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that maintains visual representations in working memory relies on a class of NMDA receptors known as NR2B receptors. Blocking these receptors abolished persistent firing among pyramidal Delay cells.

Earlier studies have shown these types of NMDA receptors are often altered in patients with schizophrenia. They also seem to be altered in Alzheimer’s patients. The findings suggest that this may be one cause of cognitive deficits in those with schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.

Ketamine, an anesthetic often abused as a street drug, also blocked these receptors, explaining at least in part why ketamine abuse can produce schizophrenia-like symptoms.

https://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/brains-sketch-pad-goes-blank-in-schizophrenia/

[3323] Wang, M., Yang Y., Wang C-J., Gamo N. J., Jin L. E., Mazer J. A., et al.
(2013).  NMDA Receptors Subserve Persistent Neuronal Firing during Working Memory in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex.
Neuron. 77(4), 736 - 749.

Related News

Understanding a protein's role in familial Alzheimer's disease

Analysis of 40 spinal marrow samples, 20 of which belonged to Alzheimer’s patients, has identified six

Blocking a receptor involved in inflammation in the brains of mice with severe Alzheimer’s produced marked recovery in blood flow and vascular reactivity, a dramatic reduction in toxic amyloid-beta, and significant improvements in learning and memory.

A multi-year study involving 207 healthy older adults, in which their spinal fluids were repeatedly sampled and their brains repeatedly scanned, has found that disruptions in the default mode network emerges about the same time as chemical markers of Alzheimer’s appear in the spinal fluid (decre

The first detailed characterization of the molecular structures of amyloid-beta fibrils that develop in the brains of those with Alzheimer's disease suggests that different molecular structures of amyloid-beta fibrils may distinguish the brains of Alzheimer's patients with different clinical his

A study involving mice lacking a master clock gene called Bmal1 has found that as the mice aged, their brains showed patterns of damage similar to those seen in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Many of the injuries seemed to be caused by free radicals.

A new study involving 96 older adults initially free of dementia at the time of enrollment, of whom 12 subsequently developed mild Alzheimer’s, has clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer's: where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads.

Analysis of 5715 cases from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) database has found that nearly 80% of more than 4600 Alzheimer's disease patients showed some degree of vascular pathology, compared with 67% of the controls, and 66% in the Parkinson's group.

The

Analyses of cerebrospinal fluid from 15 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 20 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 21 control subjects, plus brain tis

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news