Could an antioxidant supplement boost brain function in schizophrenia?
NCT ID NCT06191965
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether MitoQ, an antioxidant supplement, can improve thinking and memory in people with early schizophrenia who have signs of mitochondrial dysfunction. Researchers will give 50 participants either MitoQ or a placebo daily for 12 weeks, alongside their usual medications. The goal is to see if MitoQ helps with cognitive skills like attention and problem-solving.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- MitoQ (an antioxidant supplement)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward a new way to improve thinking and memory in people with early schizophrenia.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early-phase trial with only 50 high-risk participants. MitoQ is a supplement, not a proven treatment, and may not improve cognition or symptoms.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2/3
Runs two stages together: whether the treatment works, then large-scale confirmation.
- Participants
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About 100 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2024
- Expected to finish
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Jan 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 35 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Male or female aged 18 to 35 years old * Patients who have been diagnosed with one of the following schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: schizophreniform disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, unspecified psychosis. * Less than five years in treatment for psychosis (note that the duration of psychosis may be longer than 5 years, but this is more difficult to ascertain and therefore less reliable as an inclusion criterion). * PANSS score \< 75 * Ability to provide informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Meeting DSM-5 criteria for any substance use disorder diagnosis in the past 6 months will be exclusionary EXCEPT tobacco and mild/moderate cannabis use disorder, which will be included * Any acute medical condition requiring actively changing treatment (e.g., autoimmune disorders, acute infections, HIV/AIDS, cancer, renal failure, hepatic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, or abnormal thyroid findings). Individuals with chronic medical conditions that are stable will not be excluded (e.g., person with hypothyroidism who is taking thyroid hormone replacement and has TSH levels within the normal range; person with well-managed diabetes; etc.) * Epilepsy or another seizure disorder * Intellectual disability (e.g., history of IQ \< 70). * Under legal guardianship * Not English speaking. The questionnaires, instruments, cognitive assessments used in this research study have not been translated, validated, or studied extensively in non-English-speaking individuals. For this reason, we will not enroll individuals who do not speak English to maintain validity in the study. * MitoQ allergy * Treatment with antioxidants: omega3 (fish oil), Vitamin E, Vitamin C, multivitamins, NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) within the last 14 days. If the treatment is taken without prescription, we will ask the patient to stop using it for at least 14 days to become eligible for the present study. * Children and adolescents, pregnant women, women who have the intention to become pregnant during the course of the study, and breastfeeding women are excluded from the study. This is because no MitoQ pharmacokinetic data are available in pediatric populations, pregnancy or breastfeeding. * Lack of safe contraception, defined as: female participants of childbearing potential, not using and not willing to continue using a medically reliable method of contraception for the entire study duration, such as oral, injectable, implantable contraceptives, or intrauterine contraceptive devices, or who are not using any other method considered sufficiently reliable by the investigator in individual cases. Female participants who are surgically sterilized/hysterectomized or post-menopausal for longer than 2 years are not considered as being of childbearing potential. * Enrollment of study staff, their family members, and other dependent persons
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
3 sites in 2 countries. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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McLean Hospital
RECRUITINGBelmont, Massachusetts, 02478, United States
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University of Lausanne
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGLausanne, Switzerland
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Yale School of Medicine
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGNew Haven, Connecticut, 06519, United States
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