Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 28;19(1):125-134.
doi: 10.9758/cpn.2021.19.1.125.

Effect of Haloperidol and Risperidone on Serum Melatonin and GAP-43 in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Prospective Cohort Study

Rituparna Maiti  1 , Biswa Ranjan Mishra  2 , Monalisa Jena  1 , Archana Mishra  3 , Santanu Nath  2
Affiliations

Effect of Haloperidol and Risperidone on Serum Melatonin and GAP-43 in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Prospective Cohort Study

Rituparna Maiti et al. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. .

Abstract

Objective: Serum melatonin, a biomarker of circadian rhythm, can upregulate Growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) which is involved in neural regeneration and plasticity. The present study was conducted to investigate the adequacy of the first-line antipsychotic drugs to improve sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions by assessing the effect of haloperidol and risperidone on serum melatonin and GAP-43 in schizophrenia.

Methods: In this cohort study, 100 schizophrenic patients were recruited, and clinical evaluations were done using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). The patients with predominantly positive symptoms taking haloperidol (Group I) and patients with predominantly negative symptoms taking risperidone (Group II) were admitted and serum melatonin, arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase, GAP-43 and urinary melatonin were estimated. After 8 weeks, all clinical and biochemical parameters were repeated.

Results: Serum melatonin (2:00 hours) was significantly decreased in both haloperidol (2.42; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.67-4.17; p = 0.008) and risperidone group (3.40; 95% CI: 0.54-6.25; p = 0.021). Urinary melatonin was significantly decreased in both haloperidol (p = 0.005) and risperidone group (p = 0.014). PSQI score was significantly increased in both haloperidol (p = 0.001) and risperidone group (p = 0.003). Serum GAP-43 was significantly decreased in both haloperidol and risperidone group (p < 0.001). PANSS decreased significantly in both the groups and there was a significant negative correlation between serum melatonin at 2:00 hours and PANSS (r = -0.5) at baseline.

Conclusion: Monotherapy with haloperidol and risperidone can achieve symptomatic improvement but cannot improve sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in schizophrenia.

Keywords: GAP-43; Haloperidol; Melatonin; Risperidone; Schizophrenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study flow chart. PANSS, Positive and Negative Synd-rome Scale; ITT, intention to treat; PSQI, Pittsburgh sleep quality index; GAP-43, growth-associated protein 43.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlation between serum melatonin at 2:00 hours and PSQI score at baseline. PSQI, Pittsburgh sleep quality index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lieberman JA, Koreen AR. Neurochemistry and neuroendo-crinology of schizophrenia: a selective review. Schizophr Bull. 1993;19:371–429. doi: 10.1093/schbul/19.2.371. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tandon R, Keshavan MS, Nasrallah HA. Schizophrenia, “just the facts”: what we know in 2008 part 1: overview. Schizophr Res. 2008;100:4–19. - PubMed
    1. Lieberman JA, Girgis RR, Brucato G, Moore H, Provenzano F, Kegeles L, et al. Hippocampal dysfunction in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia: a selective review and hypothesis for early detection and intervention. Mol Psychiatry. 2018;23:1764–1772. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.249. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yates NJ. Schizophrenia: the role of sleep and circadian rhythms in regulating dopamine and psychosis. Rev Neurosci. 2016;27:669–687. doi: 10.1515/revneuro-2016-0030. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tam SK, Pritchett D, Brown LA, Foster RG, Bannerman DM, Peirson SN. Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption and recognition memory in schizophrenia. Methods Enzymol. 2015;552:325–349. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2014.10.008. - DOI - PubMed