Nicotinic Receptors and Schizophrenia

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects will be selected to be 18 to 65 years old and in good general health.
• Subjects who fulfill Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -IV-Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
• Smokers will smoke at least 20 cigarettes per day.
• Non-smokers will also be enrolled.

• Subjects will have normal:

  • vital signs,
  • hematology,
  • serum chemistries,
  • EKG, and
  • urinalysis with a negative drug screen before entry into the study.
• Subjects will be fluent in English.
• Smoking subjects will be interested in stopping smoking in the near future and not interested in nicotine replacement therapy.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects with histories of:

  • neurological illness,
  • liver disease,
  • severe hypertension (cut-off blood pressure 160/100) or
  • cardiac disease, or
  • renal failure (cut-off creatinine above 1.4).
• Subjects who currently meet DSM-IV-TR criteria for substance dependence other than nicotine, cannabis, or alcohol will be excluded.
• Women who are capable of pregnancy and not on acceptable forms of birth control will be excluded.
• Subjects being treated with Clozapine will be excluded.