Glutamate paths surface in schizophrenia

Much evidence implicates the chemical messenger known as glutamate in brain development. Now, a trio of new studies adds to growing suspicions that disturbed dispersal of this neurotransmitter in two closely related brain areas underlies schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder that afflicts an estimated 1 in 100 adults worldwide.

The investigations link schizophrenia to altered glutamate transmission between the thalamus and the frontal cortex.