ABSTRACT
Arvid Carlsson is famous for discovering that dopamine acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain, recognising that it plays an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, and establishing the pharmacological action of antipsychotic drugs. Carlsson's research would demon strate a clear-cut blockade on the storage of platelet neurotransmitter serotonin by very low concentrations of reserpine. During the early part of the 1960s, Carlsson turned his attention towards understanding the pharmacological action of the antipsychotic drugs chlorpromazine and haloperidol, which were then being used extensively to treat schizophrenia. Carlsson and Margit Lindvist proposed that instead of reducing the stores of dopamine, chlorpromazine and haloperidol exerted their effects by blocking postsynaptic dopamine receptors. In 1975, Carlsson used the term autoreceptors to refer to this specialised presynaptic receptor – a word that has become widely adopted. It is recognised that changes in autoreceptor function play a particularly significant role in the pharmacological action of many antidepressant drugs.
