Department Clinical Translation

Peter Falkai

The focus of the Department’s scientific interest is to understand the basis of cognitive deficits in schizophrenic psychoses. To this end, Peter Falkai and his team have conducted a series of clinical studies investigating the effect of exercise on brain plasticity. Remarkably, such training reduces cognitive deficits in schizophrenia to the same extent as psychosocial therapies, e.g. cognitive training. The movement restores neuronal systems such as the default mode network or the salience network. This goes hand in hand with an improvement in everyday functioning on the one hand and an improvement in clinical symptoms on the other. These effects can be achieved through exercise, but can probably also be improved by some approved drugs such as Clemastine. In a clinical study, Peter Falkai and his team are investigating whether the combination of exercise and Clemastine has a better and more lasting effect on cognition in schizophrenia than exercise alone. In addition, an animal model is being used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying these pro-cognitive effects.

 

Header: © Falkai et al., Schizophrenia Bulletin 2023 Nov 29;49(6): 1614-1624. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.