Publications by authors named "Mattea L Tan"

Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by a breakdown in cognition and emotion. Over the years, drug treatment for this disorder has mainly been compromised of orthosteric ligands that antagonize the active site of the dopamine D2 receptor. However, these drugs are limited in their use and often lead to the development of adverse movement and metabolic side effects.

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Synapsin II is a synaptic vesicle-associated phosphoprotein that has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Researchers have demonstrated reductions in synapsin II mRNA and protein in post-mortem prefrontal cortex and hippocampus samples from patients with schizophrenia. Synapsin II protein expression has been shown to be regulated by dopamine D(1) and D(2) receptor activation.

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Haloperidol (HP) is a widely prescribed antipsychotic drug used for the treatment of mental disorders. However, while providing therapeutic benefits, this drug also causes serious extrapyramidal side effects, such as tardive dyskinesia (TD). Upon chronic administration, HP causes behavioural supersensitivity to dopamine D2 receptor agonists, as well as the development of vacuous chewing movements (VCMs), in an animal model of human TD.

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Article Synopsis
  • Synapsins are neuron-specific proteins important for synaptic functions, and this study looked into how dopamine drugs affect the protein synapsin II.
  • Using midbrain neuron cultures, it was found that the Protein Kinase A (PKA) pathway is crucial for regulating synapsin II since PKA inhibitors blocked its expression.
  • The study identified that the transcription factor AP-2alpha significantly influences synapsin II levels; knocking it down prevented increases in synapsin II from dopaminergic stimulation, while EGR-1 and PEA-3 did not have a similar effect.
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