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Sarcosine & Schizophrenia

Jul 6, 2011 | By Ed Donner
Sarcosine & Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia is a serious, complex psychiatric disorder that affects cognitive, emotional and behavioral functioning. People with schizophrenia have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imagined. As the disease progresses, people develop flat affect, strong beliefs that aren't reality-based, difficulty paying attention, illogical thinking, loose associations between thoughts, seeing or hearing things that others don't, social isolation and bizarre behaviors. Accumulating evidence suggests that sarcosine can reduce certain schizophrenia symptoms, including symptoms that develop as a side effect to common schizophrenia medications.

Positive and Negative Symptoms

Symptoms of schizophrenia are commonly classified as positive or negative. Positive symptoms include intense, obviously abnormal thought processes that represent a distortion or excess of normal functions, such as hallucinations, delusions and racing thoughts. These symptoms are directly addressed by neuroleptic medications. Negative symptoms reflect a loss of normal functions, such as lack of emotionality, apathy, poor social functioning, sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, attentional problems, loss of interest or ability to experience pleasure and mood problems such as depression, anxiety, irritability and anger. Some antipsychotic drugs have side effects that include certain negative symptoms, such as flat affect and avolition, which is the inability to initiate and maintain goal-directed behavior.

Sarcosine

One school of thought regarding a possible contributing cause of schizophrenia suggests that certain types of receptors, NMDA-glutamate-receptors, don't function properly. Receptors are the chemical landing pads that respond to particular neurotransmitters in the brain. When the receptors don't operate properly, communication between nerve cells breaks down and brain cells can atrophy. Glycine or glycine-like supplements such as sarcosine appear to enhance the functioning of the NMDA receptors, particularly when used in conjunction with standard antipsychotic medications.

Research

Research indicates that sarcosine reduces schizophrenia symptoms. An article published in the March 2004 "Biological Psychiatry" concluded that sarcosine treatment provided significant improvement in positive, negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia when used on patients taking antipsychotic medications, including respiridone. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the November 2005 edition of "Archives of General Psychiatry" found that sarcosine reduced positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia when used in addition to antipsychotic medications during acute psychotic episodes. Clinical trials over the past 15 years indicate that glycine improves negative symptoms in people who take resperidone and olanzapine, but not clozapine.

Dosage

A six-week study published in the July 2007 "Biological Psychiatry" found that 2 g dosages of sarcosine were more effective than 1 g dosages, and neither dosage level produced significant side effects. Patients typically show more than a 20 percent improvement in negative and cognitive symptoms. Glycine, an amino acid dietary supplement that has a similar psychoactive effect as sarcosine, also has beneficial effect on negative and cognitive symptoms when taken in dosages ranging from 30 to 60 g per day. Side effects of stomach distress and nausea occur commonly. Starting at lower dosages in the 5 to 10 g range can minimize the adverse side effects.

Caution

Research has not yet established sarcosine or other glycine supplements as effective when used in the absence of antipsychotic medications. Always consult with your prescribing psychiatrist before taking supplements.

References

Article reviewed by Tad Cronn Last updated on: Jul 6, 2011

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