Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental illnesses, with hereditary and environmental factors important for its etiology. All antipsychotics have in common a high affinity for monoaminergic receptors. Whereas hallucinations and delusions usually respond to typical (haloperidol-like) and atypical (clozapine-like) monoaminergic antipsychotics, their efficacy in improving negative symptoms and cognitive deficits remains inadequate. In addition, devastating side effects are a common characteristic of monoaminergic antipsychotics. Recent biochemical, preclinical and clinical findings support group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR2 and mGluR3) as a new approach to treat schizophrenia. This paper reviews the status of general knowledge of mGluR2 and mGluR3 in the psychopharmacology, genetics and neuropathology of schizophrenia.