Relationship Between Plasma Levels of Prolactin and the Severity of Negative Symptoms in Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Relationship between plasma levels of prolactin and the severity of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between plasma levels of prolactin and negative symptoms. Methods: One hundred fourteen patients with schizophrenia were included in this crosssectional study. The patients were classified into groups with and without hyperprolactinemia. Plasma levels of prolactin and clinical features were compared between these groups. Results: Negative symptom scores in the group with hyperprolactinemia were significantly higher than in the non-hyperprolactinemic group. There was also a positive correlation between plasma levels of prolactin and negative symptom scores. However, there was no statistically significant difference between schizophrenia subtypes with regard to plasma prolactin levels. Patients treated with conventional neuroleptics or novel antipsychotics such as risperidone, paliperidone and amisulpride had higher prolactin levels than patients treated with aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, and clozapine. Conclusion: This study indicated that we should be aware of prolactin levels, especially when negative symptoms are prominent in patients with schizophrenia. Plasma levels of prolactin could be an important biological marker for the severity of negative symptoms in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Thus, this finding may change the present pharmacotherapy for negative symptoms in schizophrenia based on prolactin levels.

Pharmacogenomics Factors Influencing the Effect of Risperidone on Prolactin Levels in Thai Pediatric Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Although other studies have found that prolactin levels are inconsistently associated with efficacy (Wang et al, 2007;Lostia et al, 2009), our study revealed that prolactin levels may induce changes in neurogenesis, potentially affecting aberrant behaviors in ASD, consistent with several other studies (Zhang et al, 2002;Lee and Kim, 2006;Ates et al, 2015). Prolactin is an anterior pituitary peptide hormone, under inhibitory control by dopamine released from the tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons (Grattan, 2015).…”

“…Zhang et al (2002) observed a significant positive relationship between the reduction rate of positive subscale scores of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the change in prolactin levels before and after treatment in chronic schizophrenia. Ates et al (2015) found that in patients with hyperprolactinemia, the PANSS negative symptom scores were significantly higher than in patients without hyperprolactinemia (p 0.041). Furthermore, several moderators and mediators affecting risperidone response have been described (Stern et al, 2018), and lower baseline levels of prolactin predict responder status in autistic children.…”

“…Serum prolactin levels may also reflect the antipsychotic treatment response. Several clinical studies (Zhang et al, 2002;Ates et al, 2015;Stern et al, 2018) revealed that prolactin may mediate effects on the neuropsychiatric response to risperidone. Zhang et al (2002) observed a significant positive relationship between the reduction rate of positive subscale scores of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the change in prolactin levels before and after treatment in chronic schizophrenia.…”

Antipsychotics-related hyperprolactinaemia among patients with schizophrenia in Maiduguri

“…Hyperprolactinaemia has been observed among patients on antipsychotic medications with greater D2 receptor binding, especially those on typical antipsychotics. 5 , 6 In most cases, the atypical antipsychotics have a lower propensity to increase prolactin levels than typical antipsychotics with clozapine, olanzapine and quetiapine only mildly and transiently elevating prolactin levels while risperidone and amisulpride with greater affinity to D2 receptors causing a marked and sustained increase in serum prolactin levels. 7 , 8 In addition, the tendency of antipsychotics to elevate plasma prolactin level is dose dependent with higher doses more likely to result in high prolactin levels.…”