As the disease progresses, those brain areas may have too little glutamate activity.ĭoctors are working to find out how brain circuits that use these chemicals work together or are related to each other. One study found that people who are at risk for developing schizophrenia may have too much glutamate activity in certain areas of the brain at first. It also tells parts of the brain what to do. Glutamate is a chemical involved in the part of the brain that forms memories and helps us learn new things. That’s because brain areas that "run" on dopamine may become overactive.
In schizophrenia, dopamine is tied to hallucinations and delusions. It also plays a role in other psychiatric and movement disorders, like Parkinson’s disease. Two brain chemicals, dopamine and glutamate, carry messages to cells along brain pathways that doctors believe control thinking, perception, and motivation.ĭopamine gets a lot of attention in brain research because it’s been linked to addiction. It usually causes a similar set of symptoms, but it can happen differently from person to person.
But they do know that schizophrenia tends to show up in people around late adolescence or early adulthood. Scientists don’t know if these things trigger the disorder.
Use of mind-altering drugs like LSD or marijuana as a teenager. Many other things could also play a role, including: Others believe that inflammation in the brain may damage cells that are used for thinking and perception. Some researchers believe that problems with brain development may be partly responsible for schizophrenia. It could be passed down in families, but not everyone who has schizophrenia has a close relative (like a parent, brother, or sister) with the condition. Causesĭoctors don’t know what causes schizophrenia. This research is helping efforts to develop better treatments for people who have this condition. And imaging tools, like PET scans and MRIs, show that people who have schizophrenia have less “gray matter” - the part of the brain that contains nerve cells - over time. Studies show that certain brain chemicals that control thinking, behavior, and emotions are either too active or not active enough in people with schizophrenia.ĭoctors also believe the brain loses tissue over time. They’ve found that people who have the disorder may be more likely to have glitches in their genes that may disrupt brain development. Scientists are working to understand that. But what happens inside the brain of someone who has schizophrenia? People who have schizophrenia may hear voices or see things that aren’t real.
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