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Review
. 2021 May 26;26(11):3196.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26113196.

The Nitric Oxide (NO) Donor Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) and Its Potential for the Schizophrenia Therapy: Lights and Shadows

Elli Zoupa  1 , Nikolaos Pitsikas  1
Affiliations
Review

The Nitric Oxide (NO) Donor Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) and Its Potential for the Schizophrenia Therapy: Lights and Shadows

Elli Zoupa et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting up to 1% of the worldwide population. Available therapy presents different limits comprising lack of efficiency in attenuating negative symptoms and cognitive deficits, typical features of schizophrenia and severe side effects. There is pressing requirement, therefore, to develop novel neuroleptics with higher efficacy and safety. Nitric oxide (NO), an intra- and inter-cellular messenger in the brain, appears to be implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. In particular, underproduction of this gaseous molecule is associated to this mental disease. The latter suggests that increment of nitrergic activity might be of utility for the medication of schizophrenia. Based on the above, molecules able to enhance NO production, as are NO donors, might represent a class of compounds candidates. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is a NO donor and is proposed as a promising novel compound for the treatment of schizophrenia. In the present review, we intended to critically assess advances in research of SNP for the therapy of schizophrenia and discuss its potential superiority over currently used neuroleptics.

Keywords: nitric oxide; schizophrenia; sodium nitroprusside.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of sodium nitroprusside (SNP).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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