Six-month treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs decreased frontal-lobe levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia

Objective: To study the effects of treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs on brain levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.

Participants: Sixteen patients (eight males, eight females; aged 30 ± 11 years) completed the study.

Methods: We used administered 6 months of atypical antipsychotic drugs and used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the results.

Results: We found that the administration of atypical antipsychotic drugs for 6 months decreased the glutamate plus glutamine/creatine ratio in the frontal lobe. These results suggest that the administration of atypical antipsychotic drugs for at least 6 months decreased glutamatergic neurotransmissions in the frontal lobe in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia, but there was no difference in frontal-lobe levels between patients and control subjects before administration.

Conclusion: Taking these findings into account, the glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons are implicated in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia, but in complex ways.