FIRST MONTH OF NEUROLEPTIC TREATMENT IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - ONLY PARTIAL NORMALIZATION OF THE LATE POSITIVE COMPONENTS OF VISUAL ERP

In a previous study we recorded visual event-related potentials (ERP) in drug-naive schizophrenics during passive-attention and active-atten tion tasks. Patients, compared to normal controls, had much lower late positive components (LPC) in both sessions, but nearly normal LPC inc rease from passive to active task. The present sample consisted of dru g-naive and drug-free patients who were tested before and during the f irst month of neuroleptic treatment Neuroleptics initiated gradual ame lioration of psychiatric symptoms expressed by reduced Brief Psychiatr ic Rating Scale (BPRS) scores, Schizophrenics compared to controls sho wed a session-related increase in LPC amplitude, but this process of L PC recovery was too minor to fully normalize the low LPC amplitudes in patients, Furthermore, the treatment either did not improve or even r educe the LPC reaction to the active-attention task These findings ind icate that normalization of low LPC in schizophrenia might require a l ong period of treatment, and that patients' reduced LPC reactivity to the task might be contributed, rather than treated, by neuroleptics.