Neuroprotective effect of ziprasidone: Preliminary results compared to haloperidol

Abstract

Article HistoryReceived 21 / 02 / 2014 Accepted 10 / 05 / 2014Typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs are widely used to treat psychosis. The present study investigated whether ziprasidone, an atypical antipsychotic drug, has a neuroprotective effect on hippocampal neurons in rats with experimentallyinduced transient cerebral ischemia comparatively with haloperidol which is a typical antipsychotic. Transient cerebral ischemia was induced by 10-minute occlusion of bilateral carotis communis arteries. The rats were divided into four groups: Shamoperated control group (Group I), ischemia control group (Group II), haloperidol-treated group (Group III) and ziprasidone-treated group (Group IV). Following 10-minute ischemia, Group III received 1mg/kg haloperidol intramuscularly and Group IV received 2.5 mg/kg ziprasidone intraperitoneally. The animals were sacrificed on the seventh day following induced ischemia to determine the number of intact neurons at hippocampus and dentate gyrus to demonstrate the effects of ischemia and efficacy of the treatments administered. Surviving cell numbers were found in the sham operated group; 198, in the ischemia control group; 80, in the haloperidol-treated group; 185, in ziprasidonetreated group; 189. The groups showed significant difference in the comparison of the surviving cell numbers. However, the number of surviving cells did not significantly different between the ziprasidone and haloperidol-treated group. Previous studies with the ischemia model have demonstrated protective effects of haloperidol on hippocampal region. The findings of the present study show that ziprasidone, which is an atypical antipsychotic drug, may produce neuroprotective effects as potent as haloperidol, which is a typical antipsychotic drug.