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SchizophreniaSarcNCT00538070

A Study of the Effects of Sarcosine on Symptoms and Brain Glycine Levels in People With Schizophrenia

A study testing Sarcosine in people with Schizophrenia, run by Massachusetts General Hospital at 2 sites in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The NMDA receptor has been identified as having a role in substance use disorders as well as in schizophrenia. One example of the former is nicotine's effect on dopaminergic activity not only by increasing the release of dopamine in the Midbrain reward centers, but also through less direct mechanisms affecting alpha-7… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 65 years
Conditions the study is for
Schizophrenia
What is being tested?
Sarcosine
Type of treatment
Pill or oral medicine
Could I receive a placebo?
Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
How many people
68 participants
Where
2 sitesUnited States
Study dates
Aug 2007to Jul 2012
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 65 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Women and men aged 18-65 with DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder by diagnostic interview and chart review.
  • Clinically stable on a stable dose of antipsychotic medication for at least one month, no current active suicidal ideation.
  • Competent to provide informed consent.
  • Women of childbearing age must have a negative pregnancy test at screening and agree to use an approved form of contraception throughout the study.
  • Screening labs within normal limits for age and gender except for liver function tests as specified below.

Who cannot join

  • Diagnosis of bipolar disorder, dementia, neurodegenerative disease, or other organic mental disorder.
  • History of seizure disorder or CNS tumor.
  • Liver function tests elevated over twice normal.
  • Bulimia, or major depressive disorder within the last 6 months.
  • Life-threatening arrhythmia, cerebro-vascular, or cardiovascular event within 6 months. Current serious unstable medical illness including cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, respiratory, endocrine, neurological, or hematological disease such that hospitalization for treatment of that illness is likely within the next 2 months. Lifetime history of multiple head injuries with neurological sequelae or a single severe head injury with lasting neurological sequelae.
  • Use of investigational medication within 30 days of enrollment.
Show all 9Show fewer
  • Use of clozapine.
  • Substance use disorder other than nicotine or caffeine in the last 6 months (by self report and salivary drug and alcohol screen).
  • Posing a current risk of homicide or suicide.

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

United States2 sites
  • McLean Hospital, Brain Imaging Center

    Belmont, Massachusetts, 02478

  • MGH Center for Addiction Medicine

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02114

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: The Effects of Glycine Transport Inhibition on Brain Glycine Concentration

The NMDA receptor has been identified as having a role in substance use disorders as well as in schizophrenia. One example of the former is nicotine's effect on dopaminergic activity not only by increasing the release of dopamine in the Midbrain reward centers, but also through less direct mechanisms affecting alpha-7 nicotinic receptors, NMDA receptors, and Glycine, a co-agonist for the NMDA receptors. In terms of schizophrenia, it has been hypothesized that NMDA receptor hypofunction plays a role in the mechanism for negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in these patients. The NMDA hypofunction may be reversed with increased synaptic glycine availability.

Sarcosine, or n-methyl-glycine, is a GlyT-1 and System A transport inhibitor actions which could be expected to increase the availability of glycine, in the synaptic space. Sarcosine is a dietary supplement which could be found in several food items such as egg yolks and turkey.

Our collaborative team has developed a novel, non-invasive magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) technique for measuring brain glycine changes that allows us to study glycine homeostasis. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of sarcosine (n-methyl-glycine) on brain glycine concentrations. It is our hypothesis that oral sarcosine, at a dose of 2 grams per day, will be well tolerated and associated with increased brain glycine concentrations. It is our secondary exploratory hypothesis that increases in brain glycine will be associated with behavioral signs of increased NMDA and dopamine activity. This modulation could have future therapeutic potential for disorders of hedonic and cognitive function.

Read the detailed description

Research subjects will undergo a screening visit at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Addiction Medicine. If they meet inclusion criteria, they will be invited for the baseline visit when they will have their first MRS and will begin taking the study drug/placebo. The randomization will be done in blocks of four. The study drug/placebo is prescribed to take 2 capsules of 500 mg each, two times per day, with or without food. They will continue weekly visits for six weeks and will receive new supplies of the study drug/placebo on weeks 2 and 4. On week 6, they will have the second MRS. On weeks 8 and 16, subjects will undergo follow up visits. On several of these visits, study staff will assess for the presence of adverse events (with the UKU instrument), cigarettes use (with carbon monoxide monitoring), and abnormal involuntary movements (with the abnormal involuntary movement scale, the barnes akathisia scale, and the sympson angus scale).

Conditions
Schizophrenia
Being tested
Sarcosine
Keywords
Sarcosine, Glycine, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Schizophrenia
Medical subject headings
Schizophrenia

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • SarcosineDietary supplement

    Also called glycine transport inhibitor

    You will receive two grams of sarcosine or placebo per day. Each capsule will contain 500 mg of sarcosine or placebo. You will take two capsules twice per day, once in the morning and once in the evening, every day for six weeks. You can take the pills with or without food. You should continue to take all your other medications throughout the study.

Study groups in NCT00538070
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
PlaceboPlacebo comparatorYou will receive two grams of placebo per day. You will take two 500 mg placebo capsules twice per day, once in the morning and once in the evening, every day for six weeks. You can take the pills with or without food. You should continue to take all your other medications throughout the study.
Receives: Dietary Supplement: Sarcosine
SarcosineExperimentalYou will receive two grams of sarcosine per day. You will take two 500 mg capsules twice per day, once in the morning and once in the evening, every day for six weeks. You can take the pills with or without food. You should continue to take all your other medications throughout the study.
Receives: Dietary Supplement: Sarcosine

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Increases in brain glycine concentration as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    Measured: baseline and endpoint

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted2 Oct 2007 (estimated)
  2. Study startAug 2007
  3. Primary completionJul 2012
  4. Study completionJul 2012

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
Double blind
Who is masked
Participant, Investigator
Enrolment
68 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00538070
Sponsor's protocol ID
1R01DA022276-01
Other IDs
1R01DA022276, #2007-P-000416/1, R01DA022276, DPMC
Acronym
Sarc
Status last verified
Sep 2012
First submitted
1 Oct 2007
Last updated
18 Sep 2012
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes

Publications

  • Berger AJ, Dieudonne S, Ascher P. Glycine uptake governs glycine site occupancy at NMDA receptors of excitatory synapses. J Neurophysiol. 1998 Dec;80(6):3336-40. doi: 10.1152/jn.1998.80.6.3336.

    PubMed 9862928
  • Mansvelder HD, McGehee DS. Long-term potentiation of excitatory inputs to brain reward areas by nicotine. Neuron. 2000 Aug;27(2):349-57. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(00)00042-8.

    PubMed 10985354
  • Lopez E, Arce C, Vicente S, Oset-Gasque MJ, Gonzalez MP. Nicotinic receptors mediate the release of amino acid neurotransmitters in cultured cortical neurons. Cereb Cortex. 2001 Feb;11(2):158-63. doi: 10.1093/cercor/11.2.158.

    PubMed 11208670
  • Lim DK, Park SH, Choi WJ. Subacute nicotine exposure in cultured cerebellar cells increased the release and uptake of glutamate. Arch Pharm Res. 2000 Oct;23(5):488-94. doi: 10.1007/BF02976578.

    PubMed 11059829
  • McGehee DS, Heath MJ, Gelber S, Devay P, Role LW. Nicotine enhancement of fast excitatory synaptic transmission in CNS by presynaptic receptors. Science. 1995 Sep 22;269(5231):1692-6. doi: 10.1126/science.7569895.

    PubMed 7569895
  • Toth E, Vizi ES, Lajtha A. Effect of nicotine on levels of extracellular amino acids in regions of the rat brain in vivo. Neuropharmacology. 1993 Aug;32(8):827-32. doi: 10.1016/0028-3908(93)90192-6.

    PubMed 8105411
  • Toth E. Effect of nicotine on the level of extracellular amino acids in the hippocampus of rat. Neurochem Res. 1996 Aug;21(8):903-7. doi: 10.1007/BF02532339.

    PubMed 8895843
  • McBain CJ, Kleckner NW, Wyrick S, Dingledine R. Structural requirements for activation of the glycine coagonist site of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Mol Pharmacol. 1989 Oct;36(4):556-65.

    PubMed 2554111
  • Herdon HJ, Godfrey FM, Brown AM, Coulton S, Evans JR, Cairns WJ. Pharmacological assessment of the role of the glycine transporter GlyT-1 in mediating high-affinity glycine uptake by rat cerebral cortex and cerebellum synaptosomes. Neuropharmacology. 2001 Jul;41(1):88-96. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3908(01)00043-0.

    PubMed 11445189
  • Sakata K, Sato K, Schloss P, Betz H, Shimada S, Tohyama M. Characterization of glycine release mediated by glycine transporter 1 stably expressed in HEK-293 cells. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 1997 Oct 3;49(1-2):89-94. doi: 10.1016/s0169-328x(97)00126-5.

    PubMed 9387867
  • Javitt DC, Duncan L, Balla A, Sershen H. Inhibition of system A-mediated glycine transport in cortical synaptosomes by therapeutic concentrations of clozapine: implications for mechanisms of action. Mol Psychiatry. 2005 Mar;10(3):275-87. doi: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001552.

    PubMed 15278098
  • Lechner SM. Glutamate-based therapeutic approaches: inhibitors of glycine transport. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2006 Feb;6(1):75-81. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2005.11.002. Epub 2005 Dec 22.

    PubMed 16376148
  • Martina M, Gorfinkel Y, Halman S, Lowe JA, Periyalwar P, Schmidt CJ, Bergeron R. Glycine transporter type 1 blockade changes NMDA receptor-mediated responses and LTP in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells by altering extracellular glycine levels. J Physiol. 2004 Jun 1;557(Pt 2):489-500. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2004.063321. Epub 2004 Apr 2.

    PubMed 15064326
  • Tsai G, Lane HY, Yang P, Chong MY, Lange N. Glycine transporter I inhibitor, N-methylglycine (sarcosine), added to antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry. 2004 Mar 1;55(5):452-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2003.09.012.

    PubMed 15023571
  • Lane HY, Chang YC, Liu YC, Chiu CC, Tsai GE. Sarcosine or D-serine add-on treatment for acute exacerbation of schizophrenia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Nov;62(11):1196-204. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.11.1196.

    PubMed 16275807

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Sarcosine in people with Schizophrenia, run by Massachusetts General Hospital at 2 sites in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 9 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 18 Sep 2012. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Increases in brain glycine concentration as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (time frame: baseline and endpoint). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00538070, which also lists 76 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 18 Sep 2012.

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