[Aripiprazole as "dopamine sensitivity stabilizer"].

Aripiprazole (ARI) is one of atypical antipsychotics used for the treatment of schizophrenia all over the world, owing to its tolerability and ability to keep antipsychotic effect for an extended period of time. Its unique pharmacological feature, which is known as dopamine partial agonist, enables clinically relevant dopamine(2) receptor blockade and prevents extrapyramidal adverse effects. On the basis of our preclinical experiments and clinical case study, we discovered that ARI had an ability to stabilize the sensitivity to dopamine. Excessive sensitivity to dopamine is hypothesized to lead to exacerbation or relapse of psychotic symptoms. Therefore, we speculate that ARI can prevent schizophrenic patients from exacerbation or relapse of psychotic symptoms by reducing excessive sensitivity to dopamine.