Clozapine treatment increases serum glutamate and aspartate compared to conventional neuroleptics.
To examine whether serum excitatory amino acid concentrations change with clozapine treatment and whether these changes correlate with improvement in negative symptoms, serum excitatory amino acids were measured and clinical scales administered in seven subjects with schizophrenia before and after switching from conventional neuroleptics to clozapine. Clozapine treatment was associated with increased serum glutamate and aspartate concentrations. Clinical improvement was negatively correlated with baseline glycine concentrations. These results support the hypothesis that clozapine acts at least in part by increasing glutamatergic activity.
Evins
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Psychotic Disorders Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
Amico
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Shih
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Goff
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D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D003024:Clozapine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D003024:Clozapine