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Switching antipsychotics to aripiprazole or blonanserin and plasma monoamine metabolites levels in patients with schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Miura Itaru,
Shiga Tetsuya,
Katsumi Akihiko,
KannoNozaki Keiko,
Mashiko Hirobumi,
Niwa ShinIchi,
Yabe Hirooki
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.2386
Subject(s) - aripiprazole , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , medicine , monoamine neurotransmitter , psychiatry , pharmacology , psychology , receptor , serotonin
Objective Blonanserin is a novel atypical antipsychotic drug that has efficacy equal to risperidone. We investigated the effects of aripiprazole and blonanserin on clinical symptoms and plasma levels of homovanillic acid (pHVA) and 3‐methoxy‐4hydroxyphenylglycol in the switching strategy of schizophrenia. Methods Twenty two Japanese patients with schizophrenia were enrolled into this open study. The antipsychotics of all patients were switched to aripiprazole or blonanserin for the improvement of clinical symptoms or side effects. Plasma monoamine metabolites levels were analyzed with high‐performance liquid chromatography. Results There were no significant effects for time ( p = 0.346) or time × group interaction ( p = 0.27) on the changes of positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) total score, although blonanserin decreased PANSS scores. We observed negative correlation between pHVA at baseline and the change in PANSS total score (rs = −0.450, p = 0.046). We also found positive correlation between the changes in pHVA and the changes in PANSS total (rs = 0.536, p = 0.015) and positive (rs = 0.572, p = 0.008) scores. Conclusions There were no differences between blonanserin and aripiprazole in the improvement of clinical symptoms. Our results suggest that pHVA may be useful indicator for the switching strategy to aripiprazole or blonanserin in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.