INCREASED SISTER-CHROMATID EXCHANGE AND CHROMOSOMAL ABERRATION FREQUENCIES IN PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS RECEIVING PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL THERAPY

Combinations of various psychotropic drugs are often used, sometimes f or long periods, in the treatment of various forms of psychiatric diso rders. This paper evaluates the cytogenetic consequences of daily expo sure to polytherapy with antianxiety, antipsychotic and antimaniacal d rugs by determining chromosomal aberrations (CA) and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in peripheral blood samples. The study was performed wi th a group of 36 psychiatric patients: 18 receiving long-term treatmen t with lithium carbonate, combined with benzodiazepines (BD) and antip sychotic agents (Group A) and 18 treated with ED and antipsychotics (G roup B). Among the latter, 7 patients had only been treated for 1 mont h (Group B,). The results reveal a significant increase (p < 0.01) in cells with aberrations in the two groups of patients (A,B) compared to controls. Moreover, complex aberrations (dicentrics, rearrangements, chromatid exchanges) had a frequency of 0.63% in patients receiving lo ng-term treatment compared to O.11% in controls, corresponding to the general spontaneous rate. The mean frequency of SCE/cell and the perce ntage of cells with a high frequency of exchanges (HFC) also showed a highly significant difference compared to controls in both Group A and Group B. Group B, (patients who only commenced treatment 1 month earl ier) did not differ from the control group with regard to the frequenc y and type of chromosomal aberration or in relation to the mean freque ncy of SCE/cell. No significant differences were detected between Grou ps A and B both of which showed similar frequencies of cells with aber rations, SCE/cell and HFC. No correlations were observed in Group A be tween lithemia and the biological markers studied. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience B.V.