Antipsychotic drugs reverse the disruption in prefrontal cortex function produced by NMDA receptor blockade with phencyclidine.

ABSTRACT: NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) antagonists are extensively used as schizophrenia models because of their ability to evoke positive and negative symptoms as well as cognitive deficits similar to those of the illness. Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) abnormalities. These deficits are of particular interest because an early improvement in cognitive performance predicts a better long-term clinical outcome. Here, we examined the effect of the noncompetitive NMDA-R antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) on PFC function to understand the cellular and network elements involved in its schizomimetic actions. PCP induces a marked disruption of the activity of the PFC in the rat, increasing and decreasing the activity of 45% and 33% of the pyramidal neurons recorded, res

SUBMITTER: Kargieman L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1976198 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature