Antipsychotics With Different Chemical Structures Cause Different Degrees of Functional Impairments in the Primary Visual Cortex in a Murine Model: A Pilot Study

Si Gao; Xiaoyan Ma; Feng Ji; Ce Chen; Deguo Jiang; Yong Xu; Xueqin Song; Wenqiang Wang; Xiaodong Lin; Hongjun Tian; Chuanjun Zhuo; Xinwu Ye; Haiping Yu

doi:10.5152/pcp.2021.20022

Antipsychotics With Different Chemical Structures Cause Different Degrees of Functional Impairments in the Primary Visual Cortex in a Murine Model: A Pilot Study

Psychiatry Clin Psychopharmacol. 2021 Dec 1;31(4):364-369. doi: 10.5152/pcp.2021.20022. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Si Gao¹, Xiaoyan Ma², Feng Ji³, Ce Chen¹, Deguo Jiang¹, Yong Xu^{4

5}, Xueqin Song^{6

7

8}, Wenqiang Wang⁹, Xiaodong Lin¹, Hongjun Tian^{3

1}, Chuanjun Zhuo¹⁰, Xinwu Ye², Haiping Yu^{10

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Microimaging Center, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
² Department of Psychiatric-Neuroimaging-Genetics and Comorbidity Laboratory, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Tianjin, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital/First Clinical Medical College of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
⁵ MDT Center for Cognitive Impairment and Sleep Disorders, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
⁶ First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
⁷ Biological Psychiatry International Joint Laboratory of Henan, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
⁸ Henan Psychiatric Transformational Research Key Laboratory, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
⁹ Canadian and Chinese Joint Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry, Xiamen Xianye Hospital, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.
¹⁰ Department of psychiatry, Tianjin Fourth Central Hospital, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Background: Antipsychotic medications can impair vision in patients with schizophrenia. However, little is known regarding the pharmacodynamics of antipsychotics in the primary visual cortex. We aimed to study the pharmacodynamics of antipsychotics in the visual cortex in a murine model.

Methods: We used an adapted 2-photon imaging technique to observe changes in calcium dynamics induced by 4 antipsychotics (olanzapine, risperidone, aripiprazole, and amisulpride) in the primary visual cortex of healthy and schizophrenic C57BL/6 mice. Visual function was further assessed by using a novel object recognition test.

Results: All 4 antipsychotics decreased calcium activity in the primary visual cortex and reduced visual recognition test scores in healthy and schizophrenic mice. The most potent drug was olanzapine, followed by risperidone, aripiprazole, and amisulpride. All drugs showed significant differences between groups.

Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrated that antipsychotics impair visual cortical function. This finding underscores the importance of monitoring for visual adverse events in patients receiving antipsychotic medications to treat schizophrenia.

Keywords: Antipsychotic agents; calcium signaling; schizophrenia; visual cortex.

2021 authors.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871052 to C.Z., 81801679 and 81571319 to Y.X.); the Key Projects of the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, China (17JCZDJC35700 to C.Z.); the Tianjin Health Bureau Foundation (2014KR02 to C.Z.); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC1307004 to Y.X.); the Shanxi Science and Technology Innovation Training Team’s Multidisciplinary Team for Cognitive Impairment (201705D131027 to Y.X.); the Zhejiang Public Welfare Fund Project (LGF18H090002 to D.J.); the Key Project of the Wenzhou Science and Technology Bureau (ZS2017011 to X.L.); the Tianjin 131 Scholar Project (to C.Z.); and the Tianjin Anding Hospital of 300000 Scholar Award Project (to C.Z.).