Effect of Minocycline on Negative Symptoms in Patients with Schizophrenia and its Influence on Tumor Necrosis Factor-α / 医药导报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the improvement of minocycline on negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and its influence on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α.Methods Patients with schizophrenia were randomly assigned into two groups.One was olanzapine combined with placebo group (control group, 37 cases).The other was olanzapine combined with minocycline group (treatment group, 200 mg ·d-1,po,bid, 38 cases).Both groups were assessed by the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), the scale for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS), and also tested the level of TNF-α before and after 12 weeks treatments.Results After 12 weeks treatments, the scores of SANS and PANSS in treatment group were significantly lower than those of control group (P<0.05).The level of TNF-α in treatment group[(6.5±1.3) pg ·mL-1]was significantly lower than that of control group[(7.6±1.8) pg ·mL-1] (P<0.01).Conclusion Minocycline can improve negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and the mechanism may be related to lower the level of TNF-α.