Characterising the Muscarinic Receptor Deficit in Schizophrenia

对精神分裂症患者大脑的尸检显示，毒蕈碱受体大量丢失。这可能是临床上非常重要的，如果它也可以在活着的患者中得到证实。在开发了一种新的扫描技术，显示活脑中的毒蕈碱受体之后，我们现在将扫描精神分裂症患者，看看他们是否也显示这种受体丢失，并看看它如何影响他们。这可能为理解和治疗这种疾病打开新的大门。

Post-mortem examination of the brains of schizophrenia patients reveals a substantial loss of muscarinic receptors. This is likely to be clinically very important if it can also be confirmed in living patients. Having developed a new scanning technique that shows muscarinic receptors in the living brain, we will now scan patients with schizophrenia to see if they also show this receptor loss, and see how it affects them. This could open new doors to understanding and treating the disease.