None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
‘Glycine’ is an amino acid that can be purchased at health food shops in Australia. Some studies have suggested that glycine, when administered in conjunction with typical medications, improve schizophrenia symptoms. However, glycine doesn’t work in all patients. Much more research is needed to determine how and whether glycine affects brain activity, cognitive processes and other schizophrenia symptoms. The purpose of this project is to investigate the use of glycine as an adjunct treatment for improving cognition in schizophrenia. We will investigate whether glycine treatment, in combination with standard antipsychotic medication, is more effective at improving cognitive and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia than antipsychotic medication alone. We will measure schizophrenia patient's baseline level of glycine and we will examine whether glycine treatment affects brain activity, cognition and clinical symptoms differently, depending on the patient's baseline level of glycine.
Interventions
Glycine, 0.8g/kg oral administration per day for 6 weeks, in conjunction with patient's current antipsychotic medication
Sponsors
Alfred Hospital
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Factorial
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 45 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Currently meet Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - 4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia * Aged 18-45 years * Clinically stable for 3 months * Currently on stable atypical antipsychotic (other than Clozapine) therapy, where type of medication has been unaltered for 2 months and medication dose has been unaltered for 1 month prior to start of study * Capacity to provide consent
Exclusion criteria
* Comorbid diagnosis of other Axis 1 conditions including alcohol or substance dependence * Currently on Clozapine (patients on Clozapine will not be used due its effects on the NDMA receptor) * History of head injury * History of hearing difficulties (patient report) * Pregnant or breastfeeding * Use of prescription or non-prescription drugs (other than antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia patients), including vitamins, herbal and dietary supplements within 7 days (or 14 days if the drug is a potential enzyme inducer) or 5 half-lives (whichever is longer) prior to the first study visit, unless in the opinion of the Investigator the medication will not interfere with the study procedures or compromise subject safety.
Outcome results
None listed