Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:304-307
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Neuroleptic drug levels and therapeutic response: preliminary observations with red blood cell bound butaperazine
DL Garver, H Dekirmenjian, JM Davis, R Casper and S Ericksen
The authors studied neuroleptic concentration-therapeutic response curves
for butaperazine (BPZ), a piperazine phenothiazine, in 10 schizophrenic
patients during the first 12 days of treatment. BPZ bound to red blood
cells (RBC) was more strongly correlated with therapeutic response than was
plasma BPZ. RBC BPZ concentrations could be used to define a "therapeutic
window", an optimun concentration for therapeutic response, above and below
which favorable response diminishes. The authors emphasize the preliminary
nature of the data but suggest that levels of RBC-bound neuroleptic may
provide an important guide for dosage regulation in schizophrenic patients.
