The fact that the first-generation drugs were diffusely neurotoxic was not regarded as a problem when antipsychotics arrived on the market in the 1950s.  Ironically, the destructive capacity of these pharmaceuticals was initially celebrated as a necessary component of drug therapy, because psychiatrists mistakenly believed that psychosis could be “cured” via chemical lobotomy.
	Unfortunately, many physicians who practice medicine today may not appreciate the continuing evidence from animal experiments which has revealed the potential of old and new drugs to destroy the brain.
	In this context, a recent series of publications prepared by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have produced dramatic results.  Motivated by a desire to understand the cellular effects of lab techniques (do the sequential steps involved in the preparation or storage of brain tissue alter the tissue in any way), the investigators made several vital discoveries.