The effect of tandospirone, a serotonin(1A) agonist, on memory function inschizophrenia

Background: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the a ddition of tandospirone, a 5-HT1A partial agonist, to ongoing treatment wit h typical antipsychotic drugs, would improve memory function in patients wi th schizophrenia. Methods: Eleven outpatients (male/female = 7/4) with schizophrenia who had been on stable doses of haloperidol and biperiden were given tandospirone, 30 mg/day, for 4 weeks. The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was admin istered at baseline and 4 weeks after the addition of tandospirone. The Bri ef Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Total, Positive, and Negative subscale s cores) and the Simpson-Angus Scale for the Extrapyramidal Symptoms (SAS) we re also completed on the two occasions. To exclude the possibility of a pra ctice effect on the WMS-R test, 11 age-matched patients with schizophrenia (M/F = 7/4) were reared at baseline and after a a 4-week interval. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed a significant time by group (patients with or without tandospirone) effect for the Verbal-, b ut not the Visual Memory composite scores of the WMS-R test; no significant change was observed in patients without tandospirone, whereas improvement in the Verbal Memory score was noted in patients receiving tandospirone. Mo reover, there was improvement in the Inclusion score, an index of memory or ganization as measured by the Logical Memory subtest of WMS-R, only in pati ents with tandospirone. Scores on the BPRS and SAS weta improved during tre atment with tandospirone, but the effects did not reach statistical signifi cance. Conclusions: The results suggest that adjunctive treatment with 5-HT1A agon ists may improve some types of memory function in schizophrenia. (C) 2001 S ociety of Biological Psychiatry.