Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci.  2019 Mar;17(2):250-260. 10.9758/cpn.2019.17.2.250.

Effects of Amisulpride Adjunctive Therapy on Working Memory and Brain Metabolism in the Frontal Cortex of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Preliminary Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography Investigation

• Park JH
• Hong JS
• Kim SM
• Min KJ
• Chung US
• Han DH

• KMID: 2456728
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.9758/cpn.2019.17.2.250

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Dopamine plays a significant role in working memory by acting as a key neuromodulator between brain networks. Additionally, treatment of patients with schizophrenia using amisulpride, a pure dopamine class 2/3 receptor antagonist, improves their clinical symptoms with fewer side effects. We hypothesized that patients with schizophrenia treated with amisulpride and aripiprazole show increased working memory and glucose metabolism compared with those treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and aripiprazole instead.
METHODS
Sixteen patients with schizophrenia (eight in the amisulpride group [aripiprazole+amisulpride] and eight in the CBT group [aripiprazole+CBT]) and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were recruited for a 12-week-long prospective trial. An [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computerized tomography scanner was used to acquire the images.
RESULTS
After 12 weeks of treatment, the amisulpride group showed greater improvement in the Letter-Number Span scores than the CBT group. Additionally, although brain metabolism in the left middle frontal gyrus, left occipital lingual gyrus, and right inferior parietal lobe was increased in all patients with schizophrenia, the amisulpride group exhibited a greater increase in metabolism in both the right superior frontal gyrus and right frontal precentral gyrus than the CBT group.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that a small dose of amisulpride improves the general psychopathology, working memory performance, and brain glucose metabolism of patients with schizophrenia treated with aripiprazole.

Keyword

Schizophrenia; Sulpiride; Cognition; Positron-emission tomography

MeSH Terms

Aripiprazole
Brain*
Cognition
Cognitive Therapy
Dopamine
Electrons*
Frontal Lobe*
Glucose
Humans
Memory, Short-Term*
Metabolism*
Neurotransmitter Agents
Occipital Lobe
Parietal Lobe
Positron-Emission Tomography
Prefrontal Cortex
Prospective Studies
Psychopathology
Schizophrenia*
Sulpiride
Aripiprazole
Dopamine
Glucose
Neurotransmitter Agents
Sulpiride