Elevated activity of superoxide dismutase in male late-life schizophrenia and its correlation with clinical symptoms and cognitive deficits

• Published in: BMC psychiatry Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 606
• Main Authors: Huo, Lijuan, Lu, Xiaobing, Wu, Fengchun, Chang, Catherine, Ning, Yuping, Zhang, Xiang Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 04.12.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Age factors in disease; Aged; Alzheimer's disease; Animal cognition; Antioxidants; Brain research; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction; Development and progression; Drug dosages; Emotional behavior; Geriatric schizophrenia; Health aspects; Hospitals; Humans; Interviews; Lipid peroxidation; Male; Measurement; Memory; Mental disorders; Negative symptoms; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Oxidative stress; Patients; Physiological aspects; Plasma; Plasma levels; Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychotropic drugs; Risk factors; Schizophrenia; Sex factors in disease; Superoxide Dismutase; China; Beijing China; Oxidative stress; Plasma; Negative symptoms; Cognition; Geriatric schizophrenia
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-021-03604-5

Despite inconsistent findings, accumulative evidence has shown abnormalities of the key antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase (SOD), in patients with schizophrenia. However, few studies explored SOD in late-life schizophrenia (LLS). Our work aimed to investigate changes in SOD activity and the relationship between SOD activity and psychotic symptoms or cognitive deficits in LLS. 32 geriatric male patients with schizophrenia (age ≥ 60) and 28 age-matched male normal controls were recruited in the study. We assessed cognitive functions with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), evaluated the severity of clinical symptoms with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and measured the plasma levels of SOD. Patients with LLS presented with higher total levels of SOD compared to the controls (81.70 vs. 65.26 U/ml, p < .001). Except for the visuospatial index, the cognitive performance was significantly worse on RBANS total and other domain scores in the schizophrenia group than the control group. In the schizophrenia group, SOD levels were positively correlated with subscores of general psychopathology and negative symptoms and total scores of the PANSS (all p < .05), and inversely associated with performance in immediate memory, language, and RBANS total scores (all p < .05). Our findings suggest that patients with LLS display disturbances in the antioxidant system, which may underlie the pathological process of cognitive impairments and negative symptoms in the late stage of schizophrenia. Supplementing with antioxidants could be a potential treatment.