Cognitive Impairments, Negative Symptoms, Schizophrenia
Conditions
Keywords
Pergolide, Dopamine D1, Schizophrenia, Cognitive disturbance, Negative symptoms
Brief summary
Dopamine has been closely associated with prefrontal function. The hypothesis that a lower dopaminergic activity is associated with negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction observed in the patients of schizophrenia is of a heuristic value in guiding research in this area. This hypothesis led us to test whether pergolide, a D1/D2 agonist, could improve negative symptoms and cognitive impairments prevailing in most patients with schizophrenia. This double-blind placebo controlled study will investigate the remedial effect of pergolide on negative symptoms and cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
Interventions
DRUGPergolide (drug)
Sponsors
Hamamatsu University
Study design
Observational model
DEFINED_POPULATION
Time perspective
OTHER
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 50 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Patients * Were age 18-50 years, met the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia * Were treated with a stable dose of risperidone, raging 2 to 6mg, for more than 8 weeks * Had a score ≥15 on negative subscale items in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) * Had a minimum period of symptom stability, defined as no more than 20% change on consecutive ratings on PANSS for at lease 4 weeks
Exclusion criteria
* Had a history of medical condition or drug treatment that may have affected cognitive performance * Had a history of other psychiatric disorders
Countries
Japan
Outcome results
None listed