TY - JOUR AU - Siafis, Spyridon AU - Nomura, Nobuyuki AU - Schneider-Thoma, Johannes AU - Bighelli, Irene AU - Bannach-Brown, Alexandra AU - Ramage, Fiona J AU - Tinsdeall, Francesca AU - Mantas, Ioannis AU - Jauhar, Sameer AU - Natesan, Sridhar AU - Vernon, Anthony C AU - de Bartolomeis, Andrea AU - Hölter, Sabine M AU - Drude, Natascha I AU - Tölch, Ulf AU - Hansen, Wulf-Peter AU - Chiocchia, Virginia AU - Howes, Oliver D AU - Priller, Josef AU - Macleod, Malcolm R AU - Salanti, Georgia AU - Leucht, Stefan TI - Muscarinic receptor agonists and positive allosteric modulators in animal models of psychosis: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] JO - F1000Research VL - 13 SN - 2046-1402 CY - London PB - F1000 Research Ltd M1 - DZNE-2025-00693 SP - 1017 PY - 2025 AB - Muscarinic receptor agonism and positive allosteric modulation is a promising mechanism of action for treating psychosis, not present in most D2R-blocking antipsychotics. Xanomeline, an M1/M4-preferring agonist, has shown efficacy in late-stage clinical trials, with more compounds being investigated. Therefore, we aim to synthesize evidence on the preclinical efficacy of muscarinic receptor agonists and positive allosteric modulators in animal models of psychosis to provide unique insights and evidence-based information to guide drug development.We plan a systematic review and meta-analysis of in vivo animal studies comparing muscarinic receptor agonists or positive allosteric modulators with control conditions and existing D2R-blocking antipsychotics in animals subjected to any method that induces behavioural changes of relevance for psychosis. We will identify eligible studies by searching multiple electronic databases. At least two independent reviewers will conduct the study selection and data extraction using prespecified forms and assess the risk of bias with the SYRCLE's tool. Our primary outcomes include locomotor activity and prepulse inhibition measured with standardized mean differences. We will examine other behavioural readouts of relevance for psychosis as secondary outcomes, such as social interaction and cognitive function. We will synthesize the data using multi-level meta-analysis with a predefined random-effects structure, considering the non-independence of the data. In meta-regressions we will explore potential sources of heterogeneity from a predefined list of characteristics of the animal population, model, and intervention. We will assess the confidence in the evidence considering a self-developed instrument thatconsiders the internal and external validity of the evidence.PROSPERO-ID: CRD42024520914. KW - Animals KW - Systematic Reviews as Topic KW - Psychotic Disorders: drug therapy KW - Disease Models, Animal KW - Meta-Analysis as Topic KW - Allosteric Regulation: drug effects KW - Muscarinic Agonists: therapeutic use KW - Muscarinic Agonists: pharmacology KW - Antipsychotic Agents: therapeutic use KW - Antipsychotic Agents: pharmacology KW - antipsychotic; schizophrenia; psychosis; muscarinic receptor; acetylcholine; meta-analysis (Other) KW - Muscarinic Agonists (NLM Chemicals) KW - Antipsychotic Agents (NLM Chemicals) LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 C6 - pmid:39844929 C2 - pmc:PMC11751611 DO - DOI:10.12688/f1000research.155356.2 UR - https://pub.dzne.de/record/279165 ER -