Treatment Prevents Symptoms of Schizophenia in Tests with Rats

Researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil have tested a treatment with sodium nitroprusside in a strain of rats that spontaneously develop some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. The results obtained with a group of adolescent animals suggest that preventive treatment of the disease may be possible in future for young people considered at risk owing to cases of schizophrenia in their family history - 15% to 30% of risk cases develop the disease later in life. The research was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP. The principal investigator was Vanessa Costhek Abílio, a professor in the Pharmacology Department of UNIFESP's Medical School (Escola Paulista de Medicina). The findings have been published in the journal CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics.