Translating Neurobiology to the Treatment of Dual Diagnosis: The Example of Nicotinic Receptors and Neurocognitive Endophenotypes in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Endophenotypes are heritable traits associated with psychiatric illness. Certain endophenotypes associated with schizophrenia such as working memory and sensory gating may be linked to the high tobacco smoking prevalence in patients with schizophrenia. Evidence suggests a critical role for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor system (nAChR) in the underlying pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Despite the negative consequences associated with tobacco use, patients with schizophrenia have a much more difficult time quitting smoking and remaining abstinent compared with their nonpsychiatric counterparts. Deficits in nAChR function may contribute to the cognitive deficits that are seen with the illness, such as deficits in working memory and sensory gating, and to co-morbid tobacco use disorders. Accordingly, treatments for tobacco use disorder in this population should focus on remediation of the diseaserelated endophenotypes that restore neurocognitive function and reduce the risk of smoking relapse.

Does chronic nicotine consumption influence visual backward masking in schizophrenia and schizotypy?

“…In this line, sensory gating deficits in schizophrenia are associated with genes related to the nicotinic cholinergic receptors ( Bridgman et al, 2014 , De Luca et al, 2004 , Freedman et al, 2008 , Leonard et al, 2007 , Petrovsky et al, 2013a ), particularly, to the receptor alpha 7 subunit (CHRNA7; De Luca et al, 2004 , Leonard et al, 2007 ). Another recent study showed that a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the alpha 7 subunit gene correlated with both the diagnosis of schizophrenia and impaired performance in visual backward masking (VBM; Bakanidze et al, 2013 ).…”