Potential of Modafinil for the treatment of
Schizophrenia / depression co-morbidity

Newsletter # 99



In vivo models


Patients with schizophrenia are at an increased risk for the development of depression. Modafinil is a psychostimulant that was developed and approved for the treatment of sleepiness associated with narcolepsy. In a prospective study where modafinil was used as adjunctive treatment for patients with major depression, a significant cognitive benefit along with improvement in symptoms of depression was observed 1
1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.jcp.0000104910.75206.b9
At Neurofit, we found that a single acute treatment with modafinil reverses in a dose-dependent manner both cognitive deficit in the mouse schizophrenia model and behavioral despair in the mouse forced swimming test paradigm. Thus, the above clinical and preclinical findings are supportive of the potential beneficial effect of modafinil for the treatment of Schizophrenia and depression co-morbidity.
  • Cognitive performance assessed in the
    T-maze alternation task

    NEUROFIT website

    Left panel : Three days post subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) withdrawal, cognitive deficit was observed as evidenced by a reduced spontaneous alternation of mice in the T-maze (white vs red column), which reflects a repetitive insistence (stereotypy) on the visit of the same arm of the T-maze. The single acute administration of Modafinil dose-dependently improves the spontaneous alternation performance of PCP mice, hence their cognitive ability (red vs blue columns).
    *, p ≤ 0.05, ***, p ≤ 0.001, as compared to the PCP / Vehicle group

  • Despair-like behavior assessed in the
    forced swimming test

    NEUROFIT website

    Right panel : Mouse behavioral despair as measured by increased immobility is observed during one test session forced swimming paradigm. It is a primary screening test for antidepressants. Herein, the treatment of mice with Modafinil induces a dose-dependent decrease in the total immobility time suggesting an antidepressant-like effect of Modafinil.
    ***, p ≤ 0.001, as compared to the control (Vehicle group)



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