Future Cognitive Enhancer

Intracellular Therapies is currently testing a new pharmaceutical compound that could improve a person's working memory. Working memory is the brain's process for temporarily storing and manipulating information. This new drug enhances the D1 type dopamine receptor but is not an agonist. There are 5 different types of dopamine receptors. The D1 receptor is highly enriched in the frontal lobe of the brain, an area which is located just behind a person's forehead. Proper stimulation of the D1 receptor is critical for the normal functioning of working memory. Understimulation of these receptors leads to the cognitive dysfunction found in addiction, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, parkinson's and old age.

Enhancing activity at this receptor should be able to improve a person's attention span. Poor functioning of the D1 receptor is also associated with negative schizophrenic symptoms like apathy, affective flattening (lack or decline in emotional response), alogia (lack or decline in speech) and avolition (lack or decline in motivation)." So this drug may improve those specific symptoms. Working memory often declines quite a bit with age and a lot of that is due to a reduction in the number of D1 receptors. So this drug may also be able to improve attention deficits that are associated with old age.

Here's a quote from a press release about the new drug:

"ITI-002 was shown to be an orally active and a potent inhibitor of a novel intracellular target and was designed to amplify but not supplant ongoing activity of D1 receptive neurons, primarily in the prefrontal cortex. In behavioral studies, ITI-002 displayed acute and chronic activity as a cognitive enhancing agent in rodent models. ITI-002 has been shown to be safe in all preliminary evaluations and is advancing to pre-clinical development. It is envisioned that activation of D1 activity will improve the cognitive deficits seen in patients with schizophrenia."

company's website.

"ITI-002 refers to a novel family of compounds that are potent inhibitors aimed at potentiating the dopamine signal in dopamine target neurons. The target enzyme regulated by ITI-002 is part of the D1 dopamine receptor signaling pathway, which plays a critical role in working memory processes that are involved in maintaining and manipulating information in the brain. These processes guide higher-level behavior and high-level cognition, such as language, problem solving and reasoning. Preclinical data suggest that these compounds may have utility in treating disorders, as widely diverse as cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the cognitive deficits arising from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. ITI-002 also may be useful in treating the motor deficits that are associated with Parkinson's disease."

I think that stimulation of D1 receptor in the medial prefrontal cortex is important for the intensity of felt emotion. So in a way, this receptor is important for traits which give us our humanity. Increased activation of the D1 receptor should have an overall positive effect on mood. Enhancing D1 receptor activation could potentially increase reward/pleasure via the mesolimbic system. However it shouldn't increase levels of psychoses, unlike a D2 receptor enhancer which has the propensity to do that. So if this drug gets FDA approval, it could potentially have a number of uses for several different brain disorders. It could also be used as a cognitive enhancer to a improve a normal person's attention, working memory and possibly even mood.