ecnp matters NEWSLETTER NO. 7, June 2004 Stockholm is the location of the next ECNP Congress. From October 9 - 13, 2004 improvement. The presentation of the scientists in the field of neuropsychopharmacology will be attending some of the hyperbolic function by Lars Farde, i.e. 28 symposia, educational meetings and more. Although these will take place the relationship between dose/concen- between the walls of the congress centre, ecnp matters would like to give you a tration and receptor occupancy has had view of neuropsychopharmacology in Sweden. a substantial impact on clinical psy- chopharmacology. It can be questioned if not the main advantages of atypicals in comparison with the classical neu- Neuropsychopharma- roleptics are dose related. cology traditionally Increasing gap Jan Milders In the past decade molecular genetics strong position in has been successfully applied in phar- macology. However, psychopharmacol- cological research has been hampered Sweden ogy is also dependent on understanding by decreased resources during the past complex interactions among different decade. Psychiatrists have very little Frits-Axel Wiesel, Uppsala University Hospital transmission systems and effects on time for research, which is largely due behaviour in developing and evaluating to cuts in the health care budget Among Swedish psychiatrists the interest in neuropsychopharmacology animal models in human psychophar- together with decreasing grants. was evident even before the introduction of the neuroleptics and antide- macology. One outstanding researcher Furthermore, there is an increasing gap pressants in the 1950s. Psychopharmacology at that time was of greater in this respect is Torgny Svensson who, between clinical and basic research. interest to Swedish psychiatrists than psychoanalytical theories. There was among other things, has demonstrated Although there are several young scien- a close connection between basic and clinical research and therefore new that not only the firing but also the pat- tists in neurobiology and pharmacol- ideas were easily transmitted to clinical psychiatry. terns are of importance in the commu- ogy, most of them are not medical stu- nication among neurons. Arvid Carlsson dents. During the successful years in he basic neuropsychopharmacologi- The discovery of the endorphins by also represents this research tradition, psychopharmacology research, several Tcal research in Sweden started with Lars Terenius has had an impact on the which is behind the development of the clinical researchers were trained in Ulf von Euler who discovered nora- view of addiction as a brain disease. third generation of antipsychotics, i.e. basic science before becoming clinical drenaline and defining it as a transmit- Jörgen Engel has worked with behav- the dopamine stabilizers. researchers. The importance of this ter in the sympathetic nervous system. iour and central neurotransmission and The basis for successful psychopharma- change is unclear, however. Later Arvid Carlsson demonstrated that how pharmacology could intervene in dopamine was not just an intermediate the mechanisms underlying addiction. in noradrenaline synthesis but an inde- Closer to the brain pendent transmitter in the brain. These Clinical pharmacology was developed Hot Topics Session two Nobel laureates have meant a great during the 1960s and 1970s. Folke deal for the interest in and development Sjöquist had a major role in this devel- The presenters of the sixteen best posters of the 2004 ECNP Workshop for young scien- The 17 th ECNP Congress is organ- of neuropsychopharmacology in opment. There was a hope to find rela- tists have been selected to present the two Hot Topics Sessions at the Stockholm ised under the patronage of Her Sweden. Arvid Carlsson is still very tionships between clinical effects and Congress. Majesty Queen Silvia from Sweden. influential in both basic and clinical sci- drug concentrations in the blood. ence. Another person of great impor- Although research interest in pharmaco- The sessions are: tance was Nils-Åke Hillarp who collab- kinetics was intense, results were rather S.04 Hot topics in preclinical neuropsychopharmacology orated with Arvid Carlsson. It was meagre. Correlations with side effects Sunday October 10, 2004 (09.00 – 11.05 hours) Hillarp who developed the technique to were found but for the therapeutic • Diverse psychotomimetics act through a common signalling pathway visualise the monoamine neurons. This effects only ranges of plasma concen- Per Svenningsson, Sweden technique attracted several young trations could be defined. The determi- • Neurobiological and behavioural effects of chronic mild stress in glucocorticoid researchers to his laboratory at the nation of drug concentrations is helpful receptor-impaired transgenic mice Karolinska Institute. Kjell Fuxe and to individualise drug treatment and con- Nicolas Froger, France Annica Dahlström mapped the trol for adherence. One has analysed • Leptin treatment in activity-based anorexia monoamine neurons in the rat brain drug concentrations in CSF to come Jaquelien Hillebrand, the Netherlands and Urban Ungerstedt mapped in detail closer to the brain, though that has not • Temporal and anatomical characterization of stress-related changes on the dopamine neurons. Another break- improved the value of drug analysis in BDNF expression in the rat central nervous system through was Thomas Hökfelt’s discov- understanding clinical effects in the Raffaella Molteni, Italy ery that a neuron operated with more patients. Obviously one has to come • Changes in subunit composition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in animal than one transmitter (i.e. different kinds closer to the brain. model of schizophrenia: effect of subunit selective antagonist of neuropeptides). During the 1970s the first positron cam- Iryna Skuba, Czech Republic era was built in the USA. Lars Ericsson • Prefrontal cortex dysfunction in an animal model for neurodevelopmental psy- Still present took part in this development and, chopathological disorders The find by Arvid Carlsson that anti- when he returned to Sweden he built a Leontien Diergaarde, the Netherlands psychotics blocked catecholamine/ camera in Stockholm. The introduction • Neuroimaging changes in an animal model of schizophrenia dopamine receptors and that antidepres- of positron emission tomography (PET) Céline Risterucci, Switzerland sant inhibited reuptake of serotonin and in clinical research was the accomplish- • Hypothalamic histochemistry in different genetic models of anorexia noradrenaline was fundamental in psy- ment of David Ingvar. In the first stud- Serguei Fetissov, Sweden chopharmacology. In fact the hypothe- ies patients with schizophrenia were Page 2 ses formulated at that time are still pres- investigated with 11C-glucose as the S.07 Hot topics in interface neuropsychopharmacology Educational Team Bulgaria ent today. During the 1960s new analyt- tracer. However, it was soon clear that Sunday, October 10, 2004 (14.00 – 16.05 hours) ical methods were introduced into phar- the glucose technique was not very use- • Anxiogenic drugs act selectively on topgraphically distinct midbrain, pontine, Page 3 macology, including masspectrometry, a ful in psychopharmacological research. and medullary serotonergic neurones Jan K. Buitelaar: “Children are development led by Bo Holmstedt Pharmacological principals to deter- Jolane Abrams, United Kingdom not simply small adults!” whose main interest was in toxicology mine receptor numbers, binding and • Identification of GABAA receptor subtypes involved in tolerance against the and the cholinergic system. Göran affinity could be used in vivo with PET sedative action of diazepam Sedvall together with Frits-Axel Wiesel as shown by Lars Farde, Göran Sedvall Carolien van Rijnsoever, Switzerland Page 5 and Leif Bertilsson together with Marie and Frits-Axel Wiesel. In the first phar- • GABAB receptors play a key role in the modulation of anxiety and antidepres- The history of HCNP Åsberg developed massfragmento- macological studies of patients with sant-related behaviour: genetic and pharmacological evidence graphic methods to analyse monoamine schizophrenia it was demonstrated that Cedric Mombereau, Switzerland metabolites in body tissues. By analysis D2-dopamine receptors were occupied • Association between serotonin-related genetic polymorphisms and cholecys- of monoamine metabolites in CSF from by different kinds of neuroleptic drugs. tokinin tetrapeptide induced panic attacks in healthy volunteers patients, it was shown that different The clinical relevance of the PET tech- Eduard Maron, Estonia types of neuroleptics increased nique in dosage was obvious. One of • Rivastigmine therapy for memory deficits in patients with schizophrenia dopamine turnover as postulated by the first patients investigated with PET receiving electroconvulsive treatment Arvid Carlssson. Moreover Marie Åsberg, was severely agitated; thus the ward Dana Ophir, Israel in collaboration with Lil Träskman- staff wanted to increase her dose from • Brain volume changes in patients with schizophrenia: a 5-year longitudinal Bendz found that patients who commit- 4mg Haloperidol to the double level. MRI study across the age range ted suicide had lower levels of the sero- However, the patient accepted to be Neeltje van Haren, the Netherlands tonin metabolite 5-HIAA in CSF. investigated with PET and we found • Stimulation of α1-adrenergic and AMPA receptors in rat medial prefrontal Research in addiction has also been that