Best Event Schizophrenia Trial--A Randomized Double-Blind Trial of Aripiprazole and Risperidone in Schizophrenia

The primary objective of the proposed research project is to identify a practical method of predicting differential antipsychotic drug treatment response in patients with schizophrenia. In particular, we will examine differential response to two antipsychotic drugs, aripiprazole and risperidone, that have contrasting pharmacologic activity at D2-type dopamine receptors, i.e., partial agonism vs. antagonism, respectively. A number of candidate predictors will be examined, including neuroimaging parameters (regional neuroanatomical and metabolic variations, fallypride binding to D2-like receptors), neuropsychological testing, clinical features, laboratory measures, and genetic studies. Secondary objectives include: (1) extension of our previous efforts to characterize abnormalities in cortico-striato-thalamic circuits in unmedicated schizophrenics using PET and MR imaging; and, (2) examination of the role of omega-3 fatty acid activity in schizophrenics as a predictor of dopaminergic activity.