Favorable effect on neuronal viability in the anterior cingulate gyrus dueto long-term treatment with atypical antipsychotics: An MRSI study

In the present study, we evaluated 23 chronic schizophrenic patients under stable clinical conditions to determine the association between neuronal vi ability, as measured by in vivo H-1 magnetic resonance spectroscopic imagin g (MRSI), and antipsychotic drug effects in the anterior cingulate cortex. Careful screening of the medication history showed that 11 of these patient s had been treated with traditional neuroleptics only, while the others had switched to atypical antipsychotics due to non-response to traditional dru gs. The group of patients receiving typical neuroleptic medication showed a mean NAA,that was lower than in the group of patients receiving atypical a ntipsychotic drugs. Removing the duration of illness effect indicated a sig nificant correlation between the NAA signal in the anterior cingulate gyrus and time on atypical drugs in patients under long-term atypical antipsycho tic treatment. In contrast, patients with traditional medication revealed p rogressive decrease in the NAA level. These results suggest a favorable eff ect on neuronal viability in the anterior cingulate gyrus due to long-term treatment with atypical antipsychotics.