Abstract
Introduction: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia often predict an unfavorable clinical outcome.
Disturbed dopamine transmission in different brain parts may underlie different aspects
of negative symptoms, and the effect of antipsychotics on them may also differ. This
pilot study investigated the potentially therapeutic effects of the partial dopamine
agonist aripiprazole on different negative symptoms.
Methods: This pilot study randomly assigned patients with schizophrenia (N=40) to either aripiprazole
or risperidone. After 6 weeks of treatment, the severity of negative symptoms was
determined by the PANSS. Subscales of self-report questionnaires were used to assess
differences in initiative, anhedonia, social functioning and subjective well-being.
Results: Patients treated with aripiprazole showed a significant improvement on measures for
anhedonia and subjective wellbeing. Negative symptoms in general, lack of initiative
and social inhibition were also lower in the aripiprazole treated group, but without
reaching statistical significance.
Discussion: According to this pilot study, aripiprazole appears to specifically improve anhedonia
and subjective wellbeing compared to risperidone. This may be caused by a specific
effect of aripiprazole on the limbic branch of the dopamine system. Future studies
should replicate this finding with a larger sample size.
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Correspondence
E. LiemburgMSc
Department of Neuroscience
University Medical Center
Groningen
University of Groningen
Antonius Deusinglaan 2
P.O. Box 196
9700 AD Groningen
The Netherlands
Phone: +31/50/363 8999
Fax: +31/50/363 8875
Email: E.J.Liemburg@med.umcg.nl
