Tim Crow

Crow worked in the Department of Physiology at the University of Aberdeen in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where he conducted pharmacological and behavioural studies of reinforcement and self-stimulation in rats {{cite journal | last = Crow | first = T J | author-link = Tim Crow | title = Mode of Enhancement of Self Stimulation in Rats by Methamphetamine.| journal = Nature | volume = 224 | pages = 709–710 | date = 1969 | doi = 10.1038/224709a0 | url = https://doi.org/10.1038/224709a0 | url-access = subscription }} for his Medical Research Council funded PhD: "Experiments on the central actions of the amphetamines with particular reference to the functions of catecholamine-containing neurones". He published a number of papers {{Cite journal |last=Anlezark |first=G M |last2=Crow |first2=T J |last3=Greenway |first3=A P |date=1973 |title=Impaired Learning and Decreased Cortical Norephrine after Bilateral Locus Coeruleus Lesions |journal=Science |volume=181 |pages=682–684}}{{Cite journal |last=Crow |first=T J |last2=Arbuthnott |first2=G W |date=1972 |title=Function of Catecholamine-containing Neurones in Mammalian Central Nervous System |journal=Nature New Biology |volume=238 |pages=245–246}} dissecting the role of the various catecholamines in reinforcement and motivation, and in 1973 was the first person to publish an article arguing for a key role for the neurotransmitter dopamine in 'incentive motivation'.{{cite journal | last = Crow | first = T J | author-link = Tim Crow | title = Catecholamine-containing neurones and electrical self-stimulation. 2. A theoretical interpretation and some psychiatric implications | journal = Psychol. Med. | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 66–73 | date = 1973 | doi = 10.1017/s0033291700046353 | pmid = 4692492| url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/catecholaminecontaining-neurones-and-electrical-selfstimulation-2-a-theoretical-interpretation-and-some-psychiatric-implications/FA4C34BEB7C2B92CCAE66AA095616553 | url-access = subscription }} Crow's role as the first scientist to link dopamine to incentive motivation has been acknowledged by Berridge {{cite journal | last = Berridge | first = K C | author-link = Kent Berridge | title = The debate over dopamine's role in reward: the case for incentive salience | journal = Psychopharmacology | volume = 191 | pages = 391–431 | date = 2007 | doi = 10.1007/s00213-006-0578-x | pmid = 17072591| url = https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0578-x | url-access = subscription }} and by Robbins and Everitt.{{cite journal | last = Robbins | first = T W | author-link = Trevor Robbins | title = A role for mesencephalic dopamine in activation: commentary on Berridge | journal = Psychopharmacology | volume = 191 | pages = 433–437 | date = 2007 | doi = 10.1007/s00213-006-0528-7 | pmid = 16977476| url = https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0528-7 | url-access = subscription }}

In 1978 Crow, in conjunction with his colleague Eve Johnstone and others, showed that the anti-psychotic drug, flupentixol, reduced the severity of schizophrenic delusions specifically because of its action on the neurotransmitter dopamine.{{Cite journal |last=Johnstone |first=E C |last2=Crow |first2=T J |last3=Frith |first3=C D |last4=Carney |first4=M W |last5=Price |first5=J S |date=1978 |title=Mechanism of the antipsychotic effect in the treatment of acute schizophrenia. |journal=Lancet |volume=1(8069) |pages=848–851}} Johnstone, Crow and colleagues were also the first to demonstrate, by randomised double-blind clinical trials, that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) could reduce the symptoms of endogenous depression, albeit over a short time period.{{Cite journal |last=Johnstone |first=E C |last2=Deakin |first2=J F |last3=Lawler |first3=P |last4=Frith |first4=C D |last5=Stevens |first5=M |last6=McPherson |first6=K |last7=Crow |first7=T J |date=1980 |title=The Northwick Park electroconvulsive therapy trial |journal=Lancet |volume=2 (8208-8209) |pages=1317–1320}} This finding has been substantially replicated in many other settings.{{Cite journal |last=Pagnin |first=D |last2=de Queiroz |first2=V |last3=Pini |first3=S |last4=Cassano |first4=G B |date=2004 |title=Efficacy of ECT in depression: a meta-analytic review |journal=Journal of Electroconvulsive Therapy |volume=20 |pages=13–20}}

Crow's long term research interests were in the nature and causation of the major psychoses. These illnesses are characterised by the presence of delusions, hallucinations, and disorders of thinking{{Cite journal |last=Ban |first=T A |date=2001 |title=Evolution of Diagnostic Criteria in Psychoses |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience |volume=3 |pages=257–263}} that generally start in early and middle adult life.{{Cite journal |last=Solmi |first=M |last2=Radua |first2=J |last3=Olivola |first3=M |last4=Croce |first4=E |date=2022 |title=Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies. |journal=Molecular Psychiatry |volume=27 |pages=281–295}} Encompassing schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis, these disorders are common, being diagnosed in around 2% of the population in the course of a lifetime, but with wide cultural variation.{{Cite journal |last=Jongsma |first=H E |last2=Gayer-Anderson |first2=C |last3=Lasalvia |first3=A |last4= |year=2018 |title=Treated Incidence of Psychotic Disorders in the Multinational EU-GEI Study |journal=JAMA Psychiatry |volume=75 |pages=36–46}}

In the first CT scan study in 1976 Crow and colleagues at Northwick Park Hospital demonstrated that there are, across groups, structural differences in the brain (e.g. a degree of enlargement of the cerebral ventricles) in individuals who have suffered from schizophrenia compared to healthy people.{{cite journal |last1=Johnstone |first1=E |last2=Crow |first2=TJ |last3=Frith |first3=CD |last4=Husband |first4=J |last5=Kreel |first5=L |date= |title=Cerebral ventricular size and cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia. |journal=Lancet |publisher= |volume=2(7992) |issue= |pages=924–926 |doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(76)90890-4}} Much subsequent work with MRI scans{{Cite journal |last=Iliuta |first=F P |last2=Manea |first2=M C |last3=Budisteanu |first3=M |last4=Ciobanu |first4=A M |last5=Manea |first5=M |year=2021 |title=Magnetic resonance imaging in schizophrenia:luxury or necessity? (Review) |journal=Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine |volume=22 |pages=765–770}} and in post-mortem brain studies{{Cite journal |last=Harrison |first=P J |year=2000 |title=Postmortem Studies in Schizophrenia |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience |volume=2 |pages=349–357}} has confirmed this, suggesting that the differences are in the cerebral cortex and are particularly related to the subtle asymmetries that are characteristic of the human cortex.{{cite journal |last=Crow |first=T J |author-link=Tim Crow |date=1997 |title=Schizophrenia as failure of hemispheric dominance for language |journal=Trends in Neurosciences |publisher=Elsevier |volume=20 |issue=8 |pages=339–343 |doi=10.1016/s0166-2236(97)01071-0 |issn=0166-2236 |pmid=9246721 |s2cid=208787124}} Crow also demonstrated that people with schizophrenia show less left-sided cerebral dominance for some components of language.{{Cite journal |last=Angrilli |first=A |last2=Spironelli |first2=C |last3=Elbert |first3=T |last4=Crow |first4=T J |last5=Marano |first5=G |last6=Stegagno |first6=L |date=2009 |title=Schizophrenia as failure of left hemispheric dominance for the phonological component of language. |journal=PLoS One |volume=4 |pages=e4507}}

In the 1980s, Crow published an article,{{Cite journal |last=Crow |first=TJ |year=1980 |title=Positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms and the role of dopamine. |journal=British Journal of Psychiatry |volume=137 |pages=383–386}} focusing on the classification of the symptoms of the disease rather than focusing on the cluster of symptoms in individual patients, that became a breakthrough in the field of research on schizophrenia.{{cite book |last=McKenna, P.J. |first=P.J. |title=Schizophrenic Speech |last2=Oh |first2=T.M. |publisher=Cambridge University press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0521009058 |location=Cambridge, UK}} He also introduced the idea of two syndromes of schizophrenia one based on positive symptoms and the other on negative symptoms,{{Cite journal |last=Crow |first=T.J. |year=1980 |title=Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process? |journal=British Medical Journal |volume=280(6207) |pages=66–68}} which contributed to an understanding of the cognitive nature of schizophrenia.{{Cite book |last=Frith |first=C D |title=The cognitive neuropsychology of schizophrenia |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781317608295 |pages=11–12}}

In 1989, Crow was awarded the Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement In Schizophrenia Research.{{Cite journal |last=Crow |first=T J |date=1990 |title=The Lieber Award Acceptance Lecture. September 8, 1989 |journal=Schizophrenia Research |volume=3 |pages=99–102}} In a retrospective review of 20 years of evidence of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the brains of people with schizophrenia, Sir Robin Murray described the work of Johnstone and Crow on ventricular enlargement and negative symptoms in psychosis as being widely regarded by British psychiatrists as ‘marking the beginning of modern schizophrenia research’.{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=R M |date=1994 |title=Neurodevelopmental Schizophrenia: The Rediscovery of Dementia Praecox. |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |volume=165 |issue=S25 |pages=6–12}}

Based on the supposition that language and psychosis are specifically human conditions, Crow spent his later career investigating the implications for schizophrenia of the occurrence of cerebral asymmetry in humans but not chimpanzees.{{Cite journal |last=Li |first=X |last2=Crow |first2=T J |last3=Hopkins |first3=W D |last4=Gong |first4=Q |last5=Roberts |first5=N |date=2018 |title=Human torque is not present in chimpanzee brain. |journal=NeuroImage |volume=165 |pages=1–9}} Further work on handedness, heritability of psychosis, sex differences in age of onset in schizophrenia, and genes on the sex chromosomes in schizophrenia{{Cite journal |last=Crow |first=T J |date=2013 |title=The XY gene hypothesis of psychosis: origins and current status. |journal=American Journal of Medical Genetics |volume=162 |pages=1–25}} contributed to a large, but as yet unresolved, body of work on the contribution of the sex chromosomes, to brain development and function, including propensity to schizophrenia.{{Cite journal |last=Bache |first=E K |last2=DeLisi |first2=L E |date=2018 |title=The sex chromosome hypothesis of schizophrenia:alive, dead, or forgotten? A commentary and review. |journal=Molecular Neuropsychiatry |issue=83-89}}

Crow died from complications of Parkinson's disease on 10 November 2024, at the age of 86.{{cite news |title=Professor Tim Crow obituary: pioneering psychiatric researcher |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/professor-tim-crow-obituary-pioneering-psychiatric-researcher-6xhwgxjpp |access-date=24 November 2024 |publisher=The Times |date=21 November 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311003228/http://powic.sane.org.uk/professortimcrow.htm Professor Tim Crow], on the Prince of Wales International Centre for SANE Research Website

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crow, Tim}}

Category:1938 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:British psychiatrists

Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School

Category:Alumni of the London Hospital Medical College

Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)

Category:Schizophrenia researchers

Category:Scientists from London

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire