In one of the first instances of targeted drug design in psychiatric treatment, University of Pittsburgh researchers have found an experimental agent that shows promise in addressing working memory impairments that occur in schizophrenia.
The study breaks new ground in the strategy used to develop new pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia, explained David Lewis, M.D., UPMC Endowed Chair in Translational Neuroscience in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and lead author of the study that appears in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry .
"The drugs we use now to treat psychiatric disorders are based on serendipitous discoveries made several decades ago," he said. "In contrast, in this study we have identified a faulty brain circuit in schizophrenia, found an agent with characteristics that affect a specific molecular target in that circuit, and then tested it to see what happened."
The effectiveness of the experimental drug on cognition was measured with well-established tests of working memory and with EEG, or electroencephalogram, rather than solely with standard clinical assessment.
Earlier research indicated that a reduction of signaling by the neurotransmitter GABA in circuits in an area of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be to blame for some of the cognitive problems in schizophrenia, Dr. Lewis explained.