Analysis of proarrhythmic potential of antipsychotics risperidone and olanzapine in anesthetized dogs

In vitro electrophysiological studies have shown that second-generation antipsychotic drugs risperidone and olanzapine inhibit rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ currents and prolong action potential duration of the isolated ventricular myocardium. In this study, we analyzed in vivo cardiohemodynamic and electrophysiological profiles of risperidone and olanzapine using the halothane-anesthetized canine model to clarify their proarrhythmic potential. A clinically relevant dose of risperidone (0.03 mg/kg, i.v.) did not affect the ventricular repolarization process, whereas the supra-therapeutic doses (0.3 and 3 mg/kg, i.v.) prolonged the duration of monophasic action potential of the ventricle. Furthermore, the terminal repolarization period, an index of extent of electrical vulnerability, was prolonged after the supra-therapeutic doses. In contrast, therapeutic to supra-therapeutic doses of olanzapine (0.03–3 mg/kg, i.v.) hardly affected the ventricular repolarization process. Therefore, more caution has to be paid on the use of risperidone than olanzapine for patients with risks of the elevated plasma concentration.