Brain Natriuretic Peptide as a Biomarker of Asymptomatic Clozapine-Related Heart Dysfunction: A Criterion for a More Cautious Administration.

Clozapine-related pericarditis is a rare side effect of the drug. We reported the clinical cases of two women, aged 22 and 28 years, affected by schizophrenia with pericarditis symptoms related to clozapine treatment of 200 mg/day. Clozapine was discontinued in both patients, resulting in normalization of the ECG changes, and echocardiography confirmed the progressive disappearance of the pericardial effusion.

Haloperidol induces higher Homer1a expression than risperidone, olanzapine and sulpiride in striatal sub-regions.

Homer1a and Yotiao are two post-synaptic density proteins at the crossroad of dopamine-glutamate neurotransmission. Homer1a has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and is differentially induced by typical and atypical antipsychotics, perhaps according to their dopaminergic profile. Yotiao has been involved in glutamate and dopamine post-synaptic signalling.

Pattern of acute induction of Homer1a gene is preserved after chronic treatment with first- and second-generation antipsychotics: effect of short-term drug discontinuation and comparison with Homer1a-interacting genes.

Homer1a is a glutamate-related gene whose expression is induced by antipsychotics acutely (i.e. 90 min after treatment).

Postsynaptic density scaffolding proteins at excitatory synapse and disorders of synaptic plasticity: implications for human behavior pathologies.

Excitatory synapses are characterized by an electron-dense thickening at the cytoplasmic surface of the postsynaptic membrane, called the postsynaptic density (PSD). The PSD is a fibrous specialization of the submembrane cytoskeleton approximately 30-40 nm thick and about 100 nm wide. Hundreds of molecules have been identified in the PSD: ion-gated and G-protein-coupled receptors, association, adaptors, and scaffolding proteins, key enzymes involved in phosphorylation-dephosphorylation mechanisms, and cytoskeletal proteins.