Receptor pharmacogenetics: relevance to CNS syndromes

Clinical relevance of discoveries in psychopharmacogenetics1

Individual genetic variation accounts for some of the variability in response to drugs used routinely in clinical psychiatry. Psychopharmacogenetics focuses on how polymorphisms in genes affecting the mechanism of action of a drug's effect and/or metabolism (both peripheral and central) can influence an individual's clinical response to the drug, in terms of both therapeutic efficacy and adverse effects. Pharmacogenetics promises to be of substantial help in the field of psychiatric pharmacotherapy, but before research findings can be applied to clinical practice, ethical and methodological problems have to be addressed and overcome. This review summarises the most robust findings in the field and outlines how psychopharmacogenetic studies could lead to treatment individualisation.

[Central dopaminergic receptors (Part II): pathophysiological and therapeutic considerations]

The five subtypes of dopaminergic receptors exhibit different transduction, cerebral localization, regulation, pharmacological, and physiological roles, explaining their multiple pathophysiological implications in different neuropsychiatric conditions which result, at least in part from anomalous dopaminergic neurotransmission: Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, addiction, migraine, mode disorders, Gilles de la Tourette disease, hyperactivity syndrome with attention deficit. The wide range of pharmacological implications explains the diversity of the therapeutic approaches perspectives for development of new drugs for these neuropsychiatric conditions.