Schizophrenia neuronal degeneration

A stereotyped compulsive behavior is induced both in humans and in laboratory animals by amphetamines. This provided the basis for a method that has been used to measure the action of drugs on amphetamine-sensitive centers of the brain. A lesion in the nigrostriatal bundle on one side of a rat brain was made by injection of a neurotoxic compound such as 6-hydroxydopamine. This caused degeneration of dopamine-containing neurons on one side of the brain. When rats that had been injured in this way were given amphetamines, they developed a compulsive rotational behavior. Administration of chlorpromazine and several other antipsychotic drugs neutralized this behavior and in direct proportion to the efficacy in clinical use, an observation that also supports the theory that schizophrenia involves overactivity of dopamine neurons. 

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