Scientists ID Pathway That Makes Antipsychotic Drugs Work

HealthDay, August, 2008 by Robert Preidt

New findings that antipsychotic drugs may not work as scientists have assumed could lead to changes in how the drugs are developed and prescribed, say Duke University Medical Center researchers.

and along which the drugs deliver their effects -- may function differently than previously believed.

the G-protein-dependent signaling pathway and the beta-arrestin pathway. Most antipsychotic drugs target the G-protein signaling that occurs at the D2 receptor. Only recently has beta-arrestin been shown to play a role.

The researchers were surprised by what they found.

"Our work showed that all nine antipsychotic drugs we examined uniformly and more potently block the beta-arrestin pathway downstream of the D2 dopamine receptor," lead author Bernard Masri, a...