CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PLASMA CHLORPROMAZINE LEVELS .2. PLASMA-LEVELS OF DRUG, SOME OF ITS METABOLITES AND PROLACTIN IN PATIENTS RECEIVING LONG-TERM PHENOTHIAZINE TREATMENT

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 49  (1) , 101-107
Abstract
Plasma levels of chlorpromazine (CPZ), 3 of its metabolites and prolactin were measured repeatedly in 18 chronic schizophrenic patients. The patients were studied while on chronic phenothiazine medication (chlorpromazine in 8, other phenothiazines in 10), during 4-6 wk on placebo and during 6-12 wk of CPZ treatment. The findings were compared with those obtained during acute CPZ treatment in patients who had received similar CPZ doses but no previous long-term phenothiazine medication. Plasma CPZ levels were similar in the chronic and the acute groups and so was their relation to dose. In neither group was therapeutic effect related to plasma CPZ level. In these chronic patients, in contrast to findings during acute CPZ treatment, neither prolactin level nor the appearance of parkinsonian symptoms was related to plasma drug level. In the chronic group both these effects were less pronounced during the period on CPZ which followed the placebo than were the corresponding effects during CPZ treatment in the acute group. Since plasma CPZ levels of the 2 groups were similar, these differences may be due to an acquired tolerance of the nervous system to some of the antidopaminergic effects of the drug.