Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that affects more than 1% of the population worldwide. Dopamine system dysfunction and alterations in glutamatergic neurotransmission are strongly implicated in the aetiology of schizophrenia. To date, antipsychotic drugs are the only available treatment for the symptoms of schizophrenia. These medications, which act as D2-receptor antagonist, adequately address the positive symptoms of the disease, but they fail to improve the negative symptoms and cognitive impairment. In schizophrenia, cognitive impairment is a core feature of the disorder. Therefore, the treatment of cognitive impairment and the other symptoms related to schizophrenia remains a significant unmet medical need. Currently, phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are considered the best drug target for the treatment of schizophrenia since many PDE subfamilies are abundant in the brain regions that are relevant to cognition. Thus, this review aims to illustrate the mechanism of PDEs in treating the symptoms of schizophrenia and summarises the encouraging results of PDE inhibitors as anti-schizophrenic drugs in preclinical and clinical studies.

精神分裂症是一种严重的精神障碍，影响全世界超过1％的人口。多巴胺系统功能障碍和谷氨酸能神经传递的改变与精神分裂症的病因密切相关。迄今为止，抗精神病药是治疗精神分裂症症状的唯一可用疗法。这些作为D2受体拮抗剂的药物可以充分解决疾病的阳性症状，但不能改善阴性症状和认知障碍。在精神分裂症中，认知障碍是该疾病的核心特征。因此，认知障碍和与精神分裂症有关的其他症状的治疗仍然是未满足的重要医学需求。目前，磷酸二酯酶（PDE）被认为是治疗精神分裂症的最佳药物靶标，因为与认知相关的大脑区域有许多PDE亚家族丰富。因此，本综述旨在阐明PDEs治疗精神分裂症症状的机制，并总结PDE抑制剂作为抗精神分裂症药物在临床前和临床研究中的令人鼓舞的结果。