2006; Scoriels et al. 2011; Spence et al. 2005; Turner et al. 2004]. fMRI studies revealed the involvement of the Selleck Fasudil dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex in improvement of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia by a single-dose administration of modafinil [Spence et al. 2005; Hunter et al. 2006]. A cohort study showed improvements in working memory, attention and sequencing ability [Rosenthal and Bryant, 2004]. But none of RCTs with a longer duration of treatment considering modafinil [Freudenreich

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical et al. 2009; Pierre et al. 2007; Sevy et al. 2005] and armodafinil [Bobo et al. 2011; Kane et al. 2010] could demonstrate significant improvement of cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Weight reduction One RCT study investigated whether or not modafinil treatment produces weight loss. A total of 20 patients were included Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in an 8-week study. Mean modafinil dosage was 180 mg/day. Modafinil indeed resulted in weight loss (−2.9 lb), while placebo did not (+0.8 lb), but the difference was not statistically significant [Pierre et al. 2007]. After this study another RCT was conducted, in which not only weight, but also heart rate, temperature and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical blood pressure, nutrition intake, blood glucose, insulin, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol and triglycerides were considered. A total

of 35 patients on clozapine were included in an 8-week study. The mean modafinil dosage was 250 mg/day. No statistically significant results were found either. A possible benefit of modafinil for weight loss and body mass index (BMI) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical were found with effect sizes of 0.62 and 0.61, respectively. Mean weight loss was 0.84 kg in the modafinil group compared with a 0.01 kg weight gain in the placebo group. Nonsignificant results in favour of the modafinil group were a lower

caloric intake, a decreased total cholesterol and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical insulin resistance measures. On the other hand HDL, LDL and triglyceride changes and glucose measures were not in favour of the modafinil group [Henderson et al. 2011]. The RCT of armodafinil addition in antipsychotic-treated tuclazepam patients with schizophrenia by Bobo and colleagues could not demonstrate clinically relevant changes from baseline in body weight and metabolic laboratory studies [Bobo et al. 2011]. Tolerability Overall, modafinil was well tolerated. However, several studies report that modafinil worsened psychosis in some patients [Aggarwal et al. 2009; Narendan et al. 2002; Rosenthal and Bryant, 2004; Spence et al. 2005; Sevy et al. 2005]. One case of hypomania was reported that occurred after addition of modafinil in order to counteract the clozapine-induced sedation in a patient with schizophrenia [Ozer and Demir, 2010]. DeQuardo reported that clozapine toxicity was induced by adding 300 mg modafinil to clozapine [DeQuardo, 2002].