Conditions: Schizophrenic Psychoses
Keywords: schizophrenia schizoaffective schizophreniform early schizophrenia spectrum psychosis
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 20
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The investigators seek to examine the effect of add-on N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) in the early phase of schizophrenia spectrum illness in collaboration with researchers Kim Do, PhD, and Philippe Conus, MD in Switzerland. Modifications of brain structure are thought to occur during the pre-illness phase and around the transition to psychosis. Therefore, studying new treatments that could target changes occurring during this period is of critical importance.

Aims:

Does add-on NAC treatment in early psychosis influence:

* positive and negative symptoms
* extrapyramidal side-effects of other medication
* plasma concentration of glutathione
* Mismatch Negativity, a physiological marker

Detailed description:
The study proposes that a glutathione deficit leading to an abnormal response to oxidative stress is a vulnerability factor, combined with other brain specific factors, in brain functioning of some individuals with schizophrenia (Do et al., 2010). N-acetyl-cysteine is hypothesized to cross the blood-brain barrier and increase glutathione in the brain.

Arms:
arm 1: N-Acetyl cysteine effervescent tablets in water 2 in am and 1 in pm for 28 weeks arm 2: matching effervescent tablets in water 2 in am and 1 in pm

Interventions: intervention 1: n-acetylcysteine intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 900 mg effervescent PharmaNAC tablet in water or juice: two tablets in the AM, one tablet in PM intervention 2: Placebo tablets are placed in water or juice in the AM and PM

Protocol document: