Snyder, receptor hypothesis

In 1976, Ian Creese, David R. Burt, and Solomon H. Snyder of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, reported that the most effective schizophrenia medications are the ones that have the strongest affinity for dopamine receptors. Researchers also discovered drugs that increased the amount of dopamine inadvertently caused schizophrenic symptoms in patients. These findings led to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia—too much dopamine causes schizophrenia. 

In 1976, Solomon Snyder and colleagues at Johns Hopkins showed that the effectiveness of neuroleptic drugs, such as spiperone and haloperidol, was directly related to their affinity for binding to Da DA receptors. Seeman and others at the University of Toronto also reported this finding. These results raised the question of whether schizophrenic symptoms might be the result of excessive DA release or hypersensitivity of DA receptors—the DA hypothesis of schizophrenia. 

---