Schizophrenia

Since glutamate is the main neurotransmitter that sends information from the Central Nervous System, and can likely be found on every neuron in the brain it has the ability to affect every function of the body. Scientists have recently begun recording results from studies done on glutamate and associations with Schizophrenia. The results are far from conclusive but do start to answer some questions formerly unanswerable due to lack of research.

Not only is glutamate the major excitatory neurotransmitter, but it also helps determine neuronal form and mold neural circuitry. Glutamate can therefore be constructive and destructive. “When glutamate binds to its receptors depolarization occurs causing various molecules to modulate the developmental processes listed above.”

It is currently believed that the psychotic phase of schizophrenia does not appear until adolescence but that there may be a visible developmental component of the disease present at earlier ages. Glutamatergic testing has led some scientists to hypothesize that “altered glutamate function…may be part of the pathogenic mechanism leading to psychosis.”

In the human brain neural circuits constantly