title: D-Cycloserine in Neuropsychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review.
abstract: D-Cycloserine, known from tuberculosis therapy, has been widely introduced to neuropsychiatric studies, since its central active mechanism as a partial NMDA-agonist has been found. In this review, we evaluate its therapeutic potential in neuropsychological disorders and discuss its pitfalls in terms of dosing and application frequency as well as its safety in low-dose therapy. Therefore, we identified 91 clinical trials by performing a Medline search. We demonstrate in part preliminary but increasing evidence that D-cycloserine may be effective in various psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, addiction, eating disorders, major depression, and autism as well as in neurological diseases, including dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and spinocerebellar degeneration. D-Cycloserine in low-dose therapy is safe, but there is still a need for new drugs with higher specificity to the different N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor subunits.
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center, Georg-August University, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Robert-Koch Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany. wpaulus@med.uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schade
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center, Georg-August University, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Robert-Koch Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Paulus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003523:Cycloserine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000819:agonists* / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D003523:Cycloserine