Schizophrenia is a mental illness that only affects about one percent of the population and, despite this very small percentage, the illness is approximated to be the seventh most expensive illness to treat. The origin of this mental illness is still unknown and thus treatment for this illness is greatly lacking. The illness is comprised of a wide range of severe symptoms which fall into the category of negative, positive, or cognitive symptoms. Scientists have only been successful in finding pharmaceuticals to treat the symptoms of the disease. There is unfortunately no cure for the disease. The current medications used to treat this illness are only fifty to sixty percent effective and can cause severe side effects to patients. Currently, two different classes of pharmaceuticals are used to treat the illness. They are generally referred to as typical and atypical antipsychotics. Although these medicines have been effective in treating the positive symptoms of this illness, they have not been effective in treating the negative or cognitive symptoms of the disorder and have caused severe metabolic and neurological side effects. One of the main proposed causes of this illness has to do with specific receptors in the brain like dopamine receptors, glutamate receptors, and the nicotinic alpha-7 cholinergic receptors. As such, many antipsychotics that are used to treat the symptoms involve various forms of blocking or inhibiting receptors. However, another hypothesis has been proposed which is that certain antipsychotic mechanisms of action actually involve a polymerization reaction. Researching the chemical structures of current pharmaceuticals and their proposed mechanisms of action are vital to developing more effective and efficient pharmaceuticals to treat the disease of schizophrenia.
