Summary:
The addition of the nutritional supplement called sarcosine to antipsychotic therapy for six months increased markers of neurons viability (NAA) and neurogilal activity (mI) with simultaneous improvement of clinical symptoms. Sarcosine, two grams administered daily, seems to be an effective adjuvant (add-on) in the pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia.
Source:
More information on Sarcosine:
There has been quite a bit of good research over the past 8 years on a dietary supplement called Sarcosine (or N-methyl Glycine). It is a natural amino acid that you have already in your body.
Sarcosine seems to be the only thing that has some good clinical research data showing that it can help people who have schizophrenia and who suffer from some negative symptoms (the cognitive/focus issues, lack of motivation, and negative mood/depression issues that are common with schizophrenia.
We have a new summary of this research here that we encourage you to read:
http://www.schizophrenia.com/glycinetreat.htm
It is available from a number of online stores at different prices. BrainVitaminz a…
and
Sarcosine Improves Negative and Cognitive Symptoms in Schizophrenia, May Reverse Damage to Brain
http://schizophrenia.com/?p=740
Summary of info:
Sarcosine Therapy - A New Complementary Direction for Schizophrenia Treatment?
http://www.schizophrenia.com/glycinetreat.htm
5 Likes
I don’t understand. Is this a good thing?
This would seem to be a good thing.
and as far as this:
"The addition of sarcosine to antipsychotic therapy for six months increased markers of neurons viability (NAA) and neurogilal activity (mI) "
Yes - It seems this also is a good thing:
“neural cell viability and neurite outgrowth are two of the most commonly measured indications of neural (brain) cell health and function.”
https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/references/protocols/neurobiology/neurobiology-protocols/measuring-neuronal-cell-health.html
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Thanks do you think its ok to take sarcosine with 160 mg of Latuda?
so does that improve memory then?
There are a number of studies where they’ve used sarcosine and medications like Risperdal that show there are benefits to adding the sarcosine. I have not seen any tests yet for Latuda plus sarcosine - perhaps ask your doctor.
Results: Sarcosine added to Risperidone significantly reduced symptom severity in many different arenas compared to placebo. D-Serine was not effective in this study. No significant side effects were seen.
HY Lane, YC Chang, YC Liu, CC Chiu and GE Tsai,
Archives of general psychiatry , Nov 2005
Agents that enhance N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) function through the glycine modulatory site (D-serine, glycine, or D-cycloserine) or through glycine transporter 1 (sarcosine) improve the symptoms of patients with stable chronic schizophrenia.To determine whether NMDA-glycine site agonists or glycine transporter-1 inhibitors have better efficacy and whether NMDA receptor-enhancing agents have beneficial effects for acute exacerbation of schizophrenia.Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Inpatient units of 2 major medical centers in Taiwan. Patients Sixty-five schizophrenic inpatients with acute exacerbation.Six weeks of treatment with sarcosine (2 g/d), D-serine (2 g/d), or placebo and concomitant optimal risperidone therapy.Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) (20 and 17 items) total scores.The sarcosine group revealed more reductions in PANSS total scores than the placebo (P = .04) and D-serine (P<.001) groups. Sarcosine adjunctive treatment was also superior to placebo in reducing SANS-20 (P = .007) and SANS-17 (P = .003) scores and to D-serine in decreasing SANS-20 (P = .006) and SANS-17 (P = .002) scores. The PANSS-general, PANSS-cognitive, and PANSS-depressive symptoms scores and SANS-alogia and SANS-blunted affect scores improved significantly more in sarcosine-cotreated patients than in risperidone monotherapy patients (P< or =.02 for all). Sarcosine adjunctive therapy also surpassed D-serine in terms of PANSS-general, PANSS-positive, PANSS-negative, and PANSS-depressive symptoms scores (P< or =.04 for all). D-serine and risperidone cotreatment did not differ significantly from risperidone monotherapy in all efficacy domains.This first short-term treatment study on NMDA receptor-enhancing agents suggests that sarcosine, superior to D-serine, can benefit not only patients with long-term stable disease but also acutely ill persons with schizophrenia. This finding indicates that a glycine transporter 1 inhibitor may be more efficacious than NMDA-glycine site agonists for adjuvant treatment of schizophrenia, at least during the acute phase. Further studies are needed.
and
“Sarcosine treatment was better than d-serine in effect sizes for all outcome measures. Sarcosine also surpassed placebo in most of the measures [of negative symptoms measures) of five PANSS factors and five SANS subscales”
HY Lane, CH Lin, YJ Huang, CH Liao, YC Chang and GE Tsai,
The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology , May 2010
Recent evidence indicates that enhancing N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neurotransmission with the treatment of NMDA/glycine site agonists, such as D-serine, or a glycine transporter-1 (GlyT-1) antagonist, N-methylglycine (sarcosine), can improve symptoms of schizophrenia. To compare these two novel approaches, 60 patients with chronic schizophrenia were enrolled into a 6-wk double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of add-on treatments at the reported effective dosages (2 g/d). Clinical assessments were conducted every other week. Treatment group x treatment duration interaction analysis by multiple linear regression showed that sarcosine was superior to placebo at all four outcome measures of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total (p=0.005), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) (p=0.021), Quality of Life (QOL) (p=0.025), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) (p=0.042). However, d-serine did not differ significantly from placebo in any measure. Sarcosine treatment was better than d-serine in effect sizes for all outcome measures. Sarcosine also surpassed placebo in most of the measures of five PANSS factors and five SANS subscales. All treatments were well tolerated. These findings suggest that the GlyT-1 inhibitor is more efficacious than the NMDA/glycine site agonist in treatment for schizophrenia, including life quality and global function, at the dosages tested.
I think the focus of the study was on “negative symptoms” of schizophrenia - not memory specifically, but general area of “cognitive functioning” is covered under the classification of negative symptoms (people typically have difficulty concentrating, reading books, and memory difficulties in schizophrenia.
“The addition of sarcosine to antipsychotic therapy for six months increased markers of neurons viability (NAA) and neurogilal activity (mI) with simultaneous improvement of clinical symptoms. Sarcosine, two grams administered daily, seems to be an effective adjuvant in the pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia.”
2 Likes
So delusions are not affected?
Bowens
March 19, 2022, 7:06pm
9
No, I don’t think so. Sarcosine is used for improvement of negative and cognitive symptoms only, I believe.
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Yes - that is what the research suggests.
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