Different antipsychotics and their influence on central-cardiorespiratory network pathways in paranoid schizophrenia

This study aimed to characterize how different antipsychotics influence central-autonomic-network couplings in schizophrenia (n=17, SZO) (SZO1 (n=13): atypical neuroleptics, SZO2 (n=4): mixture of antidepressant and atypical neuroleptics) compared to healthy conditions (n=17, CON). From all participants we analyzed heart rate (BBI), respiration (RESP), and EEG (P
_EEG
) under resting conditions (15min) applying the normalized short time partial directed coherence (NSTPDC) method. This study revealed, on the one side, that central influence on the cardiac and respiratory system (P
_EEG
→ BBI, P
_EEG
→ RESP) is less pronounced in SZO2 than in SZO1 compared to CON. On the other side the influence of respiration on the central system (RESP→ P
_EEG
) is more pronounced in SZO2 than in SZO1 in comparison to CON. This suggests that central-cardiorespiratory regulation processes are more affected by the mixture of antidepressant and atypical neuroleptics (SZO2) than atypical neuroleptics. Antidepressant and atypical neuroleptics revealed a stronger inhibiting effect on the central nervous system than on RESP. This seems to indicate that central-cardiorespiratory regulation is more strongly influenced by antidepressants and atypical neuroleptics (SZO2) than by atypical neuroleptics alone. Antidepressants and atypical neuroleptics showed a stronger inhibitory effect on the central activity than RESP alone. This study showed that central and autonomous regulatory processes are influenced differently by antipsychotics.