ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to compare risperidone(as an atypical antipsychotic) with haloperidol(as a typical antipsychotic), so we examined the clinical effects and changes of plasma HVA, 5-HIAA & HVA/5-HIAA ratio after 8 week of risperidone or haloperidol trial. METHOD: Twenty-six male chronic schizophrenic patients were treated for 8 weeks with risperidone(N=14) and haloperidol(N=12). The duration of wash-out period was 14 days. The psychopathologic assessment was chechked by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS) and plasma HVA & 5-HIAA was measured by High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC) with electrochemical detector. The checking points were just before drug trial and 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th week(total 5 times). RESULTS: 1) Risperidone trial group were more improved than haloperidol tiral group in PANSS scores(total, positive, negative and general psychopathy). 2) Changes of plasma HVA and 5-HIAA in the risperidone and haloperidol trial group were not statistically different. But because baseline 5-HIAA of risperidone trial group was higher than that of haloperidol trial group, the increase of haloperidol trial group would be more. 3) There was significant difference in changes of HVA/5-HIAA ratio between risperidone and haloperidol trial group. But the change of HVA compared with 5-HIAA in risperidone trial group was higher than that of haloperidol trial group. CONCLUSION: These results revealed that risperidone was more effective in clinical symptoms, and suggest that cause of these results may be due to blocking both of dopamine D2 receptors and serotonin 5-HT2 receptors of risperidone.