Tier 2 — strong

Acute high-dose glycine attenuates mismatch negativity (MMN) in healthy human controls

Leung S, Croft RJ, O'Neill BV, Nathan PJ
Psychopharmacology 2008 196(3):451-460

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 17952411
DOI
10.1007/s00213-007-0976-8
Funding
Funding was not specified in the indexed abstract; the full funding disclosure has not been verified.
Competing interests
The accessible abstract does not establish the authors' competing interests; absence of a statement is not evidence of no conflicts.

Study snapshot

DesignRandomized controlled human intervention
ModelAdult humans
Sample16 healthy men
InterventionSingle oral glycine 0.8 g/kg versus placebo; crossover with 1-week washout
DurationAcute testing
EndpointsAuditory mismatch negativity; N1, N2 and P3a responses

What the study showed, in plain terms

High-dose glycine altered an auditory brain-response marker in healthy men, reducing mismatch-negativity amplitude. That physiological change is not evidence of improved cognition.

Key findings

  • Frontal duration-mismatch-negativity amplitude decreased after glycine.
  • Other measured evoked-potential amplitudes and latencies did not significantly change.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Small acute male-only study using surrogate electrophysiological endpoints.

Effects in healthy brains can differ from those in schizophrenia; companion reports from this research program are not necessarily independent cohorts.

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Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction