Schizophrenia: Prevention And Treatment Of Atypical Antipsychotic Drug-induced Obesity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$413,862.00
Summary
Atypical antipsychotic drugs such as olanzapine, clozapine and risperidone are commonly used to treat mental illness. While these drugs are effective, their side effects of obesity and metabolic disorders are a major hurdle leading to a serious lack of compliance in taking medication. This project will define the mechanism leading to these side effects and will help to identify pharmaceutical targets for the better treatment of mentally ill patients.
Understanding The Mechanisms Of Functionally Selective Antipsychotic Drugs: Implications For New Generation Antipsychotic Drugs
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,745.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is a chronic and devastating disease that ranks among the top 10 disabilities in developed countries. It places a significant burden on the Australian health system, costing about $1.5 billion each year. This project aims to reveal the mechanisms of new functionally selective antipsychotic drugs, which achieve an excellent therapeutic efficacy with low side-effects. Understanding these mechanisms will provide novel directions for the design of new generation antipsychotic drugs.
Brain Control Of The Thermoregulatory Cutaneous Circulation: A Window To The Mind, And To The Neurobiology Of Clozapine
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$561,396.00
Summary
Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurabl ....Patients suffering from schizophrenia benefit from medication. Discovering the brain mechanisms whereby the medications work is most important. Action of many important drugs have been established in experimental animals. This is a difficult task for anti-schizophrenia drugs because it is difficult to establish what animals are thinking or feeling, and it is doubtful whether animals ever suffer from schizophrenia. Thus it would be very advantageous to discover a physiological response, measurable in, for example, rats, that can serve as a marker of the animal s emotional responses to situations that would normally prove anxiety-provoking. The present grant is based on the discovery, in my laboratory, that stressful stimuli cause sudden falls in blood flow to the tail in rats. My laboratory is the first in the world to measure pulsatile blood flow to the tail in conscious rats, and this is why we made our discovery. My laboratory also discovered that clozapine, a drug of major theoretical and practical importance for the treatment of schizophrenia inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery. Clozapine interacts with many potential neurotransmitters in the brain. Some very complex combinations of these interactions are presumably responsible for the drug s unique psychotherapeutic action in schizophrenia. Our discovery that clozapine inhibits fright-induced constriction of the tail artery means that we will be able to investigate clozapine s mechanisms of action. Results of our findings are genuinely likely to increase our understanding of how clozapine works in schizophrenia. This information should also provide clues as to the nature of the presently mysterious brain malfunctions that result in schizophrenia.Read moreRead less
I am a biochemist-pharmacologist determining how neurotransmitter transporters work, which will aid in the development in novel therapies for disorders of the nervous system
Investigating The Action Of Clozapine On The Epidermal Growth Factor System: Implications For Antipsychotic Drug Action
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,535.00
Summary
Current treatments for schizophrenia are ineffective for up to half of sufferers leaving the toxic drug clozapine as the only resort. This project aims to investigate if the unique effectiveness of clozapine is due to a novel action in brain cells that we have identified. The project will delineate this mechanism and from this may lead to the development of a new way of treating schizophrenia and insights into the causes of this disorder.
Schizophrenia: Reversal Of Atypical Antipsychotic Drug-induced Obesity And Its Related Metabolic Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$619,854.00
Summary
Atypical antipsychotic drugs such as olanzapine are commonly used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. While these drugs are effective, their side effects of obesity and metabolic disorders are a major hurdle leading to a serious lack of compliance in taking medication. This project aims to develop better antipsychotic treatment with reduced side-effects including obesity and metabolic disorders for mental illness patients.
RCT Of Risperidone Versus Haloperidol Versus Placebo With Rescue Haloperidol In Delirium In Palliative Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$50,000.00
Summary
A simple definition of delirium is an acute confusional state that occurs when someone is unwell. It can manifest with many symptoms of varying severity, including confusion, restlessness, poor concentration and disturbance of sleep pattern. Delirium is a common problem when someone is unwell. Experience suggests that medications such as haloperidol and risperidone may be useful in managing these symptoms, however these have not been studied in detail in palliative care. This study is comparing ....A simple definition of delirium is an acute confusional state that occurs when someone is unwell. It can manifest with many symptoms of varying severity, including confusion, restlessness, poor concentration and disturbance of sleep pattern. Delirium is a common problem when someone is unwell. Experience suggests that medications such as haloperidol and risperidone may be useful in managing these symptoms, however these have not been studied in detail in palliative care. This study is comparing the three approaches: use of risperidone given regularly, use of haloperidol given regularly, and use of haloperidol given as needed for symptoms of agitation, hallucinations and restlessness related to delirium in patients being cared for in palliative care settings. This study will compare how well these medications control delirium symptoms (from health professional, patient and caregiver perspectives) and also monitor their side effects over a five-day period, and follow longer term outcomes for 6 months (function and location of care).Read moreRead less
Olanzapine For Young PEople With ANorexia Nervosa: An Open-label Feasibility Study To Test Recruitment, Treatment Acceptance, Adherence, Safety, Outcome Measures And Patients' Experience To Prepare For A Randomised Placebo-controlled Trial (OPEN)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$190,799.00
Summary
Olanzapine seems to be a helpful and safe medication in anorexia nervosa (AN), but it is not approved for AN. We will perform a preliminary study with 70 patients with AN (15 in Australia and 50 in the UK, age: 12-24 years) who can safely take olanzapine and have not gained sufficient weight or experienced improvement in their AN symptoms under specialist care. We will the acceptability and feasibility of olanzapine in AN. Patients will be examined after 8 and 16 weeks, 6 months and 12 months.
Overcoming Barriers To Improved Physical Health In People With Severe Mental Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$864,658.00
Summary
People with severe mental illness have high rates of cardiometabolic disease and reduced life-expectancy. Public intervention campaigns have had little impact on component risks (obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, poor nutrition). This study will determine factors associated with changes in cardiometabolic profiles in people with severe mental illness; examine impediments to risk modification; and develop targeted interventions for implementation within mental health services.