Pharmacology of new antipsychotic drugs: are they stabilizers of schizophrenic psychosis?

Antipsychotic drugs with greater efficacy and tolerance have been sought and studied in recent years. Some of them could be used in new treatment strategies to replace the D(2) receptor antagonism induced by classic neuroleptics such as haloperidol. The development strategies in this field are not only focused on discovering specific antagonists of one subtype of dopaminergic receptor, but on the synthesis of molecules having different effects on different brain areas. Drugs with limbic and frontal cortex specificity are associated with improved tolerance, increased efficacy against negative symptoms and a higher quality of life for patients. Furthermore, some investigation is being made into the possibility of alternatives to the dopaminergic system as a target for antipsychotics. Serotonergic antagonists and alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists, for example, are also being considered as potential options in the treatment of mental diseases such as schizophrenia. (c) 1998 Prous Science. All rights reserved.