In the past studies have suggested that in schizophrenic
brains the number of connections between brain cells were reduced (8).
Creating another hypothesis of the mechanism of estrogen, some researchers
have found that addition of estrogen to the brain cells increased the density
of dendritic spines. A similar study
found a connection between estrogen and NMDA receptors. They found
that NMDA-antagonists blocked the densifying
effect of estrogen, implying that estrogen works through the NMDA
receptors (13). This makes sense because PCP, a drug that inhibits
NMDA, has long been known to cause psychotic symptoms (8). So possibly
estrogen works through NMDA receptors to increase the number of connections
in the schizophrenic brain, and in this way alleviates the symptoms of
schizophrenia, rather than working through dopamine.