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Pilot-controlled trial of D-cycloserine for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder
Open accessAbstract
Dysfunction of glutamatergic neurotransmission may be relevant to the pathogenesis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Preclinical and clinical evidence suggests that PTSD symptoms could be alleviated following enhancement of neurotransmission mediated at the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors. Eleven patients with chronic PTSD participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial with 50 mg/d D-cycloserine which acts as a partial agonist at the glycine regulatory site on the NMDA receptor. D-cycloserine treatment resulted in significant improvements in numbing, avoidance, and anxiety symptoms; however, similar effects were also observed during placebo treatment. In addition, D-cycloserine treatment resulted in a significant (p=0.03), reduction in the perseverative error scores as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. This pilot study is the first to assess the efficacy of a NMDA receptor modulator for PTSD treatment and its results warrant further, larger-scale investigation.
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“This, considered collectively with findings from animal studies, leads to the postulation that DCS administration without extinction training cannot facilitate fear extinction.”
From Effects of Single Prolonged Stress and D-Cycloserine on Contextual Fear Extinction and Hippocampal NMDA Receptor Expression in a Rat Model of PTSD (2008) · cites this paper as Heresco-Levy et al, 2002
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“On the other hand, studies reported by Heresco-Levy et al (2002) did not demonstrate sufficient efficacy for DCS in the treatment of PTSD (Heresco-Levy et al, 2002).”
From Effects of Single Prolonged Stress and D-Cycloserine on Contextual Fear Extinction and Hippocampal NMDA Receptor Expression in a Rat Model of PTSD (2008) · cites this paper as Heresco-Levy et al (2002)
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Response Variation following Trauma: A Translational Neuroscience Approach to Understanding PTSD
Yehuda, R., & LeDoux, J. E. (2007) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2007.09.006 · Cited by 841
Glutamate as a therapeutic target in psychiatric disorders
Javitt, D. C. (2004) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001551 · Cited by 534
“001 11.7 0.001 13 0.001 186 Tsai et al (1999) DSER Clozapine 20 2.5 NS 0.8 NS 3.6 NS 98 Goff et al (1999) DCS Conventional 47 23 o.02c — — — NS 187 Heresco-Levy et al (2002) DCS Mixed 21a 14 o.05 — — — NS 188 Goff et al (1999) DCS Clozapine 17a þ 13d o.005 — — — NS 189 —¼not determined; NS¼not…”
InfluentialSelf-citationPharmacotherapy for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Stein, D. J., Ipser, J. C., Seedat, S., Sager, C., & Amos, T. (2006) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd002795.pub2 · Cited by 519
Pharmacotherapy of Anxiety Disorders: Current and Emerging Treatment Options
Garakani, A., Murrough, J. W., Freire, R. C., Thom, R. P., Larkin, K., Buono, F. D., & Iosifescu, D. V. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.595584 · Cited by 440
“Although not known to be efficacious as a monotherapy (149), DCS at a low dose of 50 mg/day (which is largely anNMDA agonist) has been successfully used in augmentation of exposure therapy or CBT, including reducing anxiety in persons performing cognitive tasks (150) and facilitating declarative learning (151) by redu…”
MethodSingewald, N., Schmuckermair, C., Whittle, N., Holmes, A., & Ressler, K. J. (2015) · Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2014.12.004 · Cited by 390
“…short CBT sessions (Litz et al., 2012), insufficient within-session fear inhibition (Smits et al., 2013b; Tart et al., 2013), chronic DCS treatment (Heresco-Levy et al., 2002), DCS administration outside the therapeutic temporal window (Storch et al., 2007) and subclinical levels of fear…”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Heresco-Levy, U., Kremer, I., Javitt, D. C., Goichman, R., Reshef, A., Blanaru, M., & Cohen, T.
- Affiliations
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL)
- Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (US)
- Venue
- The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-12
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 301-307
- ISSN
- 1461-1457 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-5111
- OpenAlex
- W4213356598
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 3.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Keywords
- D-cycloserine, post-traumatic stress disorder, NMDA receptor modulation, glutamatergic neurotransmission, chronic PTSD, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, avoidance symptoms, anxiety symptoms, numbing symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Antibiotics, Antitubercular, Chronic Disease, Cognition, Cycloserine, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Receptors, Glycine, Cross-Over Studies
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