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 [11C]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 (VT) of [11C]verapamil was significantly lower (10-22%) in HSV-1 inoculated rats than in control rats. In addition, antipsychotic treatment significantly affected the VT of [11C]verapamil in all brain regions, although this effect was drug dependent. In fact, VT of [11C]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 VT of [11C]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.