NCT02398279

L-arginine add-on Therapy in Patients With Schizophrenia

L-Arginine add-on Treatment for Schizophrenia: A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Cross Over Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 12 (actual)
• Sponsor: Hacettepe University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study evaluates the addition of L-Arginine to the usual regimen in the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. As a requisite of crossover design, half of the participants started with L-Arginine and the other half with placebo and switched over after a three weeks use and one week of a washout period.

Detailed description

L-arginine is the precursor of nitric oxide (NO), a neuromodulator of dopamine, gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) and glutamate systems. Nitric oxide donors which increase NO levels at the cellular level could improve N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor dysfunction. Using L-arginine could bypass the blocked NMDA receptors and improve the therapeutic efficacy by reversing the dysfunction. The investigators proposed that using L-Arginine, a dietary supplement in most cultures, might constitute a safe option as an add-on treatment which may display beneficial effects on positive, negative, cognitive and affective symptoms associated with schizophrenia.

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Schizoaffective Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT	L-Arginine	Experimental supplement
OTHER	Placebo	Placebo capsules in the same color and shape with the experimental supplement

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-06-01
• Primary completion: 2012-12-01
• Completion: 2013-04-01
• First posted: 2015-03-25
• Last updated: 2015-03-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)