Norepinephrine is elevated by modafinil in the prefrontal cortex and rostromedial hypothalamus [de Saint Hilaire et al. 2001]. It potentiates the norepinephrine-induced inhibition of sleep-promoting neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus [Gallopin et al. 2004]. Cognitive and behavioural effects of modafinil are likely to be primarily a function of changes in monoamine activity. Arousal and activity promoting effects of modafinil are probably

largely due to its effects on catecholamine systems [Minzenberg and Carter, 2008]. Modafinil addition to antipsychotic treatment could ameliorate cognitive performance [Turner et al. 2004], inactiveness [Farrow et al. 2006] and induce Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical weight reduction [Henderson et al. 2005]. By increasing activity, modafinil could selleck inhibitor decrease the bodyweight of schizophrenia patients. Weight gain often observed in schizophrenic patients is most probably due to the side effects of antipsychotic drugs and is a risk factor for the development of metabolic syndrome [Meyer et al. 2008]. If modafinil is effective in all Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of these respects, this would imply a great health benefit Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for many patients treated with antipsychotics. Recently an isomer

of modafinil, armodafinil, has also been studied in patients with schizophrenia [Kane et al. 2010]. Compared with modafinil, armodafinil produces higher plasma concentrations, whereas elimination half-life is comparable [Darwish et al. 2010]. In this paper we review all of the available literature to investigate whether modafinil and armodafinil are able to enhance cognitive function, attenuate fatigue, enhance activity and reduce weight in patients with schizophrenia treated with antipsychotic drugs. In addition, for clinical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical practice, doses and tolerability are discussed. Methods Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical A literature search was performed in Pubmed® (National Library of Medicine) and Embase Psychiatry® (Winspirs) from 1972 to March 2011 with the following search terms:

((modafinil) OR (armodafinil)) AND (schizophrenia) in the title and/or abstract. References cited in the papers were also checked for relevant articles. The inclusion criterion was that the article covered the subject of modafinil or armodafinil addition in schizophrenia. We excluded reviews, case reports and studies Bay 11-7085 that did not meet the inclusion criteria. Results A total of 52 papers were found, of which 37 were excluded. Of the excluded articles 36 did not meet the inclusion criteria and 1 article was excluded because modafinil was administered to patients with diverse, but not separately presented, psychiatric disorders. So, 15 articles were included in this review: 5 were randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs), 5 were crossover RCTs, 1 was a cohort study and 4 were animal studies (the human trials are presented in Tables 1 and ​and22). Table 1.