Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T09:40:37.829Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A comparison of M1 and M4 muscarinic receptors in the thalamus from control subjects and subjects with schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2006

B. Dean
Affiliation:
The Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories, The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Locked Bag 11, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Monash University Department of Psychological Medicine, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
L. Gray
Affiliation:
The Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories, The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Locked Bag 11, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
D. Keriakous
Affiliation:
The Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories, The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Locked Bag 11, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
E. Scarr
Affiliation:
The Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories, The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Locked Bag 11, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia

Abstract

Having shown a decrease in muscarinic M1 receptors in Brodmann’s area (BA) 9 from subjects with schizophrenia we have extended our studies to determine if this receptor is decreased in the thalamus from the same cohort of subjects. Levels of [3H]pirenzepine binding to and mRNA encoding for M1 and M4 receptors were measured throughout the thalamus. Levels of M1 and M4 receptor proteins were measured in the mediodorsal nucleus. Two-way ANOVA revealed a variance in [3H]pirenzepine binding (F = 4.69, d.f. = 1.190, P = 0.03), but there was no significant change in radioligand binding in any thalamic region in schizophrenia. Neither levels of mRNA encoding the thalamic M1 or M4 receptor nor levels of M1 or M4 receptor protein in the mediodorsal nucleus differed between the schizophrenic and control subjects. We therefore conclude that the M1 and M4 receptor are not altered in the thalamus from subjects with schizophrenia. These data add weight to the hypothesis that changes in M1 receptors in selective regions of the CNS are associated with the pathology of schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 Elsevier Science Ltd

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)