L-carnosine for Schizophrenia

Summary

The investigators' hypothesis is that oral L-carnosine treatment (as compared with placebo) will enhance cognitive abilities (specifically: measures of attention, executive function, working memory, visuospatial ability and language) in persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Secondarily, they hypothesize that there will be secondary improvements in positive, negative and mood symptoms with L-carnosine treatment. The investigators aim to test these hypotheses by conducting a randomized, placebo controlled, add-on treatment trial of L-carnosine (added to existing antipsychotic treatment) up to 84 recruited subjects with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder for a period of 16 weeks. Measures of cognition and psychopathology will be utilized for evaluating primary and secondary outcomes, along with safety assessments.

Timeline

Start

2004-03

Primary completion

2007-11

Completion

2007-12

Publications

• Results Chengappa KN, Turkin SR, DeSanti S, Bowie CR, Brar JS, Schlicht PJ, Murphy SL, Hetrick ML, Bilder R, Fleet D. A preliminary, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of L-carnosine to improve cognition in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 2012 Dec;142(1-3):145-52. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2012.10.001. Epub 2012 Oct 23.

Drugs

Indications