P-glycoprotein activity in the blood-brain barrier is affected by virus-induced neuroinflammation and antipsychotic treatment

A large percentage of schizophrenic patients respond poorly to antipsychotic treatment. This could be explained by inefficient drug transport across the blood-brain barrier due to P-glycoprotein mediated efflux. P-glycoprotein activity and expression in the blood-brain barrier can be affected by inflammation and pharmacotherapy. We therefore investigated the effect of herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) induced neuroinflammation and antipsychotic treatment on P-glycoprotein activity. Rats were inoculated with HSV-1 or PBS (control) on day 0 and treated with saline, clozapine or risperidone from day 0 up until day 4 post-inoculation. Positron emission tomography with the P-glycoprotein substrate [C-11]verapamil was used to assess P-glycoprotein activity at day 6 post-inoculation. Disease symptoms in HSV-1 inoculated rats increased over time and were not significantly affected by treatment. The volume of distribution (V-T) of [C-11]verapamil was significantly lower (10-22%) in HSV-1 inoculated rats than in control rats. In addition, antipsychotic treatment significantly affected the V-T of [C-11]verapamil in all brain regions, although this effect was drug dependent. In fact, V-T of [C-11]verapamil was significantly increased (22-39%) in risperidone treated rats in most brain regions when compared to clozapine treated rats and in midbrain when compared to saline treated rats. No interaction between HSV-1 inoculation and antipsychotic treatment on V-T of [C-11]verapamil was found. In this study we demonstrated that HSV-1 induced neuroinflammation increased and risperidone treatment decreased P-glycoprotein activity. This finding is of importance for the understanding of treatment resistance in schizophrenia, and warrants further investigation of the underlying mechanism and the importance in clinical practice. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.