Hypofunction of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has been proposed to underlie the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, suggesting that promoting NMDAR activity may alleviate the negative or cognitive symptoms associated with schizophrenia. To circumvent excitotoxicity that may accompany direct agonism of the glutamate binding site on the NMDAR, therapeutic trials have focused on targeting the glycine binding site on the NMDAR. Direct administration of either glycine or D-serine, both of which are endogenous coagonists at the NMDAR glycine site, has yielded mixed outcomes across an array of clinical trials investigating different doses or patient populations. Furthermore, directly administering D-serine and glycine is challenging, and thus attention has turned to alternative, indirect methods that increase endogenous D-serine and glycine levels in the brain, such as D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) inhibitors and glycine transporter 1 inhibitors, respectively. In this review, we provide an overview of the evidence supporting the potential of NMDAR modulators in general, and DAAO inhibitors in particular, as potential adjunctive treatments for schizophrenia. We also discuss the preclinical and clinical data related to luvadaxistat, an investigational highly selective and potent DAAO inhibitor that was under development for the treatment of the cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia.
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