Effects of risperidone, amisulpride and nicotine on eye movement control and their modulation by schizotypy

A Schmechtig; J Lees; GR Dawson; CT Dourish; KJ Craig; JFW Deakin; L Wilkinson; SCR Williams; U Ettinger

doi:10.1055/s-0031-1292540

Effects of risperidone, amisulpride and nicotine on eye movement control and their modulation by schizotypy

A Schmechtig ¹, J Lees ², GR Dawson ³, CT Dourish ³, KJ Craig ³, JFW Deakin ², L Wilkinson ⁴, SCR Williams ¹, U Ettinger ⁵

¹Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
²Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, School of Community Based Medicine, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
³P1vital Ltd, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
⁴School of Psychology, Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
⁵Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Abstract

Oculomotor dysfunctions have been well documented within schizophrenia spectrum populations and are thought to represent sensitive biomarkers of antipsychotic as well as cognitive enhancing compounds. The study examines the effects of antipsychotic and procholinergic compounds on oculomotor performance and investigates if schizotypal individuals show a differential profile of drug response than controls. 233 participants performed prosaccade, antisaccade and smooth pursuit eye movement tasks after being randomly assigned to one of 4 drug groups (nicotine, risperidone, amisulpride, placebo). Participants were classified into medium and high schizotypy groups measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). A main effect of Drug was found for saccadic peak velocity (p < 0.01), indicating reduced velocity with risperidone. AS error rate showed a main effect of Drug (p < 0.01) with nicotine improving performance (p = 0.04), as well as a Drug by Schizotypy interaction (p = 0.03) indicating higher error rates in medium schizotypes under risperidone compared to placebo (p = 0.01). High schizotypes showed a non significant trend (p = 0.19) for improvement under the influence of antipsychotics. For the key biomarker of antisaccade error rate there was a trend towards the expected modulation of drug effects by schizotypy status. The findings represent promising trends for future research investigating pharmacological influences on high risk and schizophrenia spectrum populations.

This study was supported by P1vital Ltd., Oxford, UK.