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Elemental fingerprinting of schizophrenia patient blood plasma before and after treatment with antipsychotics

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European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Antipsychotics are the main line of treatment for schizophrenia, a disorder that affects about 1% of the worldwide population. Considering the poor performance of antipsychotics on patients, this work aimed at detecting alterations in the elemental profile resulting from the use of this type of medication using an elemental fingerprinting strategy. We evaluated 56 plasma samples from schizophrenia patients by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) before (t0) and after 6 weeks (t6) of treatment. The level of response of the patients (good vs. poor responders) and the medications taken were considered. Zinc, aluminum, phosphorus, and iron levels were found to be increased, whereas sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium levels decreased after treatment. Aluminum presented a higher level in poor responders at t0 when compared to good responders. At t6, iron showed an increased level when compared to t0 for good responders; however, its level remained constant in poor responders. The results of this exploratory study provide clues for further investigations on the role of metal ions in the treatment of schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES for the financial support. PIBIC and CAPES are acknowledged for HME and GSP scholarships, respectively. Anke Dudeck, Daniela Fenker, Sieglinde Funke, Bianca Jerzykiewicz, Gabriela Meyer-Lotz, Katrin Paelchen, and Jeanette Schadow participated in the sample characterization and collection at the University of Magdeburg. Also, we thank Brad J. Smith for proofreading the article.

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Correspondence to Alessandra Sussulini or Daniel Martins-de-Souza.

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The authors declare to have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

FAPESP (Grant Numbers 2015/13229-1, 2013/08711-3, 2014/10068-4, 2014/50867-3, 2016/07384-7) and CNPq (88881.062204/2014-01, 460289/2014-4, 465389/2014-7).

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Johann Steiner and Daniel Martins-de-Souza contributed equally to this work.

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Sussulini, A., Erbolato, H.M., Pessôa, G.d. et al. Elemental fingerprinting of schizophrenia patient blood plasma before and after treatment with antipsychotics. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 268, 565–570 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0836-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0836-4

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