A total of 69 patients with a probable history of psychosis or psychotic symptoms and 26 patients with psychiatric diagnoses other than psychosis participated in a survey conducted over the Internet. Multiple control measures aimed to secure response validity. All patients were currently or had previously been treated with 5-Fluoracil mw antipsychotic agents. A questionnaire comprising 49 items and measuring possible effects of antipsychotics on cognition and emotion was administered.

For 30 out of 49 items a clear response pattern emerged,

which was similar for patients with psychotic disorders and patients with other diagnoses. Factor analysis of these items revealed three main effects of antipsychotic medication related to doubt and self-doubt, cognitive and emotional numbing, and social withdrawal.

Antipsychotic treatment appears to be connected to a number of negative subjective effects on cognition and emotion. Further studies are warranted to assess how these effects impact on the patients’ subjective well-being selleckchem and quality of life, as well as their association with antipsychotic efficacy on one hand, and adherence rates on the other. Induction of doubt and dampening of emotion may be one reason why antipsychotics work and at the same time offer an explanation why they are experienced as rather unpleasant

and are eventually discontinued by many patients. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response is a classic model of sensorimotor gating. Robust PPI impairments can be induced by dopamine agonists such as the indirect agonist amphetamine. The antipsychotic clozapine can attenuate PPI impairment induced by dopamine agonists. Clozapine is a complex drug with antagonistic effects on a variety of receptors, including serotonin and histamine. The relative contribution of its selleck component actions to its efficacy is still unclear.

To better characterize the role of histamine and serotonin receptors in the modulation of PPI in rats, we studied the effects of the H-1 histamine antagonist pyrilamine (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) on amphetamine-induced (1 mg/kg) PPI deficits (Experiment 1); and the interaction

of pyrilamine (20 mg/kg) with the 5-HT2 antagonist ketanserin (1 and 2 mg/kg) on the amphetamine-induced PPI disruption (Experiment 2).

Tactile startle stimuli consisted of 30 PSI air-puffs. Three acoustic prepulse intensity levels were used: 68, 71, and 77 dB, presented on a 65-dB background noise. In both experiments, all animals received all drug doses and combinations with different counterbalanced orders.

Pyrilamine (20 mg/kg) was effective in counteracting the PPI impairment caused by amphetamine administration, whereas ketanserin exacerbated the amphetamine-induced PPI deficit.

Based on its ability to reverse amphetamine-induced PPI deficits, blockade of histamine H-1 receptors seems to contribute to the therapeutic effect of the antipsychotic clozapine.