Problems with memory and social function in patients with schizophrenia may result from an imbalance in the brain’s nitric oxide system.
A dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden shows that rats with characteristics of schizophrenia regain normal brain function if they receive drugs that reduce the production of nitric oxide in the brain.
Schizophrenia is a serious and common disease that can cause hallucinations, delusions and apathy. Problems with memory, social cognition and other intellectual abilities are also common.
"Schizophrenic patients can be treated with anti-psychotic drugs, but the treatment does not help cognitive disturbances or impaired social function to any appreciable degree. We believe that this is due to an imbalance in the brain’s nitric oxide system, and if this is the case, we may be able to develop a completely new type of treatment," says pharmacologist Caroline Wass.
In these studies, rate and mice were given a drug called phencyclidine. This substance causes a schizophrenia-like state in humans.
"Rats and mice don’t become schizophrenic, but the drug has a similar effect on thought processes in rodents to the effect it has in humans," says Caroline Wass.
The animals’ learning capacity, memory and social interaction were measured using several different behaviour models. When the animals were treated with a substance that blocks brain nitric oxide production, they became resistant to the schizophrenia-like effects of phencyclidine.
The research team will shortly initiate a patient study in order to find out whether blocking brain nitric oxide production can alleviate cognitive disturbances in patients with schizophrenia.