Description:

Herbert Y. Meltzer, M.D.
Professor
Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Pharmacology and Physiology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

The efficacies of antipsychotic drugs to treat  psychosis, cognitive impairment,  social interaction deficits, and mood symptoms vary greatly between patients with psychotic spectrum disorders. These abnormalities can be  modeled in mice using  subchronic administration of phencyclidine (PCP)  or constitutive knock out of calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CaMKIIα).  Using behavioral, microdialysis, proteomics (Savas, Sanz-Clemente) and electrophysiologic (Martina) methods, we and collaborators are identifying pathways and brain regions that underlie these behavioral disturbances and the basis for diversity in treatment response.  Seven novel treatments which have emerged from this work, including a novel 5-HT2C agonist (Scheidt) will be discussed.