Thymosthenic Agents, A Novel Approach in the Treatment of Schizophrenia

Abstract

The pharmacotherapy of psychotic disorders which started in 1952, based on empirical results obtained with chlorpromazine by Delay & Deniker, has revolutionised the treatment of psychiatric diseases of non-organic origin. The discovery of haloperidol by Janssen in 1959 represented further progress in this field, since this was found to be more potent and to have generally less disturbing adverse effects than chlorpromazine. Nevertheless it took several years before dopamine-antagonism was put forward as possible mechanism of action for neuroleptic drugs (Carlsson & Lindqvist, 1963). From the early 1970s, however, the advent of radioligand binding studies provided new tools for studying neurotransmitter receptors in the brain and for investigating the interaction of drugs with various receptors. This technique allowed identification of receptor-binding sites related to pharmacologically defined receptors and receptor subtypes, e.g. α and β-adrenergic receptors. It also led to further subclassification and refined definition of receptors, e.g. dopamine-D1 and -D2, and different pharmacological effects mediated by the receptor subtypes have been identified.