Comparing the Effects of Olanzapine and Aripiprazole in Rat Animal Model using Heart Rate Variability: An Emerging Parameter of Cardiovascular Safety
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Correspondence
Dr. Vaishali Bhargava,
803- Romell Aether, Goregaon East, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: drvbhargav88@gmail.com
Introduction: Patients taking typical antipsychotic drugs have an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. More data is required to prove the cardiovascular safety of atypical antipsychotics, which are currently used largely in clinical practice. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis can be used to assess cardiovascular safety and tolerance of antipsychotics in experimental animal models.
Aim: To compare the effects of atypical antipsychotics aripiprazole and olanzapine in ketamine induced schizophrenic rats using HRV as a parameter of accessing cardiac autonomic activity.
Materials and Methods: Total 36 adult male wistar albino rats were randomly divided into six groups containing six rats in each group. Group I was administered with distilled water intraperitoneally for 28 days. Group II, III, IV, V and VI were administered with ketamine intraperitoneally for seven days and then from 8th day, distilled water intraperitoneally, low dose olanzapine (5 mg/kg) intraperitoneally, high dose olanzapine (15 mg/kg) intraperitoneally, low dose aripiprazole (5 mg/kg) orally and high dose aripiprazole (15 mg/kg) orally was administered daily for 21 days respectively. Twenty-four hours after the administration of last dose, that is on Day 29, ECG was recorded in all the animal of each group. Time domain and frequency domain parameters of HRV was measured using digital polygraph for five minutes. The statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance using SPSS software followed by Tukeys’s post-hoc analysis to compare variables among different groups.
Results: There was no significant deviation found in all the time as well as frequency domain parameters of HRV as determined by one-way ANOVA (p>0.05) in all the six groups i.e., distilled water treated group (control), ketamine treated group, low and high doses of olanzapine and aripiprazole treated group respectively. This data suggests that the sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation of HRV remains unchanged even during olanzapine and aripiprazole treatment.
Conclusion: This study indicates that both olanzapine and aripiprazole can be considered as safe drugs to be used as antipsychotics without causing cardiovascular complications in terms of alteration in HRV.