Tier 2 — strong

Efficacy of high-dose glycine in the treatment of enduring negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Heresco-Levy U, Javitt DC, Ermilov M, Mordel C, Silipo G, Lichtenstein M
Archives of general psychiatry 1999 56(1):29-36

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 9892253
DOI
10.1001/archpsyc.56.1.29
Funding
Indexed support: NIMH NIH HHS. See the publication for grant and funder details.
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
Sample22 treatment-resistant adults with schizophrenia
InterventionAdjunctive glycine 0.8 g/kg/day versus placebo
Duration6-week crossover treatment periods
EndpointsNegative symptoms; Other clinical symptom domains; Serum amino acids

What the study showed, in plain terms

High-dose glycine improved selected symptom outcomes in a small treatment-resistant schizophrenia trial. This positive result belongs alongside the larger null CONSIST study.

Key findings

  • Negative symptoms improved during the glycine condition.
  • Glycine and serine concentrations increased, with clinical tolerability monitored.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Small short-term clinical study, not confirmation of general effectiveness.

The dose, disease context and background medicines differ substantially from bedtime supplementation.

Related papers in the corpus

Tier 2
The Cognitive and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia Trial (CONSIST): the efficacy of glutamatergic agents for negative symptoms and cognitive impairments
Buchanan RW et al. · The American journal of psychiatry · 2007
Tier 2
Effect of clozapine and adjunctive high-dose glycine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia
Potkin SG et al. · The American journal of psychiatry · 1999
Tier 2
High-dose glycine added to olanzapine and risperidone for the treatment of schizophrenia
Heresco-Levy U et al. · Biological psychiatry · 2004
Tier 2
Double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of glycine adjuvant therapy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia
Heresco-Levy U et al. · The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 1996
Tier 2
Amelioration of negative symptoms in schizophrenia by glycine
Javitt DC et al. · The American journal of psychiatry · 1994
Tier 2
Adjunctive high-dose glycine in the treatment of schizophrenia
Javitt DC et al. · The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2001

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

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