Neuroinflammation in Schizophrenia Focused on the Pharmacological and Therapeutic Evidence

Haiyun Xu
2015 Pharmacologia  
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous mental disorder with a variety of symptoms. Although, there are no pathognomonic abnormalities in brains of schizophrenia patients, recent years have witnessed research progresses in revealing pathologic changes in cellular and molecular levels. Objective: This article reviewed recent human studies showing neuroimmune alterations in schizophrenia patients and offered explanations for roles of neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia by citing some
more » ... f experimental data from non-human studies. The focus of this review was put on pharmacological and therapeutic evidence pointing to a recommendation of anti-inflammatory treatment for patients with schizophrenia. Particularly, it provided compelling evidence supporting an anti-inflammatory effect of antipsychotics by reviewing a relatively large body of studies in the categories of in vitro, animals and humans. Conclusion: Then, it reviewed recent clinical trials with minocycline, a second-generation tetracycline, or the selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib. Most of these clinical trials provided promising results of superior beneficial treatment effects as the consequence of co-administration of standard antipsychotic drugs and anti-inflammatory compounds, compared with antipsychotic drugs alone.
doi:10.5567/pharmacologia.2015.438.453 fatcat:bbsejgkmyjh63iudagd5de7gre