The effects of clozapine, ziprasidone and sertindole treatment on lipid profile in rats

Abstract

Different studies reported that patients with schizophrenia had lower cholesterol levels in blood compared to healthy controls. However, it is unclear whether changed cholesterol concentration and lipid status are a consequence of changed neurotransmitter metabolism intrinsic to origin of the disease or affect central nervous system neurotransmission and influence the development of psychiatric disorders. Anyway, schizophrenia treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs (APD) additionally influences lipid status in blood and all families of APD agents can cause severe side effects including dyslipidemia. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate effects of 28-day treatment with recommended human daily dose of APD: ziprasidone, clozapine, sertindole on 3 months old healthy male rats’ levels of cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglyceride in the blood serum. Our results showed a decrease of both triglycerides and cholesterol in clozapine treated rats. In ziprasidone treated rats triglycerides and HDL were lower comparing to untreated controls. Treatment with sertindole had no effects on lipid blood serum levels. However, there were no changes of index of atherosclerosis in APD treated rats. Our results showed that treatment with clozapine and ziprasidone influence blood serum levels of lipids indicating altered lipid metabolism.