A Study Of The Effect On Cytokine And Cognitive Function In Patients With Schizophrenia Treated By Berberine Combined With Risperidone

Objective:Schizophrenia is one of the most common chronic mental illness, and damaged in the process of disease development is likely to emerge in the cognitive function. Schizophrenia has become a major public health problem all over the world. Many studies showed that patients with schizophrenia exist cytokine mediated immune dysfunction, think cytokines may be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia. While berberine can inhibit the expression of cytokines, protect nerve cells, improve the function of learning and memory and cognitive impairment, and other biological functions. This study aimed at investigating the effect on serum cytokines and cognition in the berberine’s treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Methods:Take the method of randomized double blind, placebo controlled, we selected 64 cases of long-term hospitalized patients with schizophrenia in accordance with the DSM-IV diagnosis standard. All the subjects were randomly assigned into the research group and the control group with gender, age, and maintain the original dose of risperidone treatment matched. Both groups maintained the risperidone treatment for 12 weeks, the research group added berberine(300mg TID), the control group added placebo(300mg TID) instead. Baseline were measured at the 0 week, including PANSS, CGI, TESS, MCCB, and blood samples. The same process was repeated at the 12 week. Measure the serum IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α levels of both two groups before and after treatment, collect the data to assess the effect of berberine on the function of decreasing cytokines and improving cognition. All the data analysis was performed with SPSS17.0 software, P <0.05 was considered the difference was statistically significant. Result:1、Comparing with the baseline, the research group demonstrated significantly decreasing in IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α(P<0.05), and the decline was more obvious than the control group. There is a significant difference in IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α between the two group after the treatment(P<0.05).2、Comparing with the baseline, the processing speed of the research group significantly incressed(P<0.05); compared with control group the HVLT-R 3 and total score, all the iterm score of the BVMT, and the antegraded score of WMS-Ⅲ were obviously improved; the research group show better improvement only in the 2D trial of CPT. No significantly improvement was observed on the score of WEST(P>0.05).3、CGI scores and all the item score of PANSS of subjects receiving berberine show greater improvements than those receiving the placebo. The PANSS positive subscale scores of both group have been significantly improved(P<0.05).4、The incidence rate of weight and blood glucose increasing was much more lower than the placebo group, the other adverse reactions occurence has no statistically defference between the two groups(P>0.05). Conclusion:1 、 Berberine can significantly decrease the IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α levels of schizophrenia patients with risperidone treatment.2、Berberine can improve the cognition function of patients with schizophrenia in processing speed and visual memory.3、Berberine may improve the positive symptoms of patients with schizophrenia.4、Berberine combined with risperidone is safety when applying in clinical medication.