Abstract

ADJUNCTIVE USE OF METFORMIN + ROSUVASTATIN IN SCHIZO-AFFECTIVE DISORDER: A CASE REPORT AND MINI-REVIEW OF RELATED MECHANISMS

*Dr. Stephen E. O. Oriaifo, Prof. B. Adegboro, Dr. Donald Odion Oriafo, Dr. Ronald Akhere Oriaifo and Dr. Stellamaris O. Obende

ABSTRACT

Extant hypotheses of bipolar disorder and stress-response associated pathways appear to converge on genetic and environmental effects on mitochondrial epigenome-nuclear genome –induced phenotypic changes in T lymphocytes. Immune homeostasis of T cells are now recognized as vital part of the body’s response to safely adjust to stress-induced excessive behaviours. Workers have also linked immune cytokines with modulators of psychological status, such as the oxytocin secreting system, in the general population. Diabetes, a risk-equivalent for coronary artery disease, and dyslipidemia are linked to bipolar disorder, a disease rooted in genetics and boosted/lifted by gene-environment interactions. Increasingly, the psychiatric potential of statins in severe mental illnesses and of also of metformin-mimetics
is being acknowledged. These drugs, which may be considered as GLP-I-mimetics, with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective potential may be efficacious in subsets of severe mental illness where inflammation,. and resultant immunogenetic sequelae, is a leading culprit. In the present case report, the combinatorial use of metformin and the newer statin, rosuvastatin go-to potential in schizo-affective disorder is noted. And adjunctive use of the combination with depixol was observed. The psychometric tests of mood disorder questionnaire, patient health questionnaire and bipolar spectrum disorder scale were used for assessment in conjunction with immune-cardio-metabolic parameters. Combinatorial metformin + rosuvastation improved scores on the parameters used; and more significantly was more effective than depixol alone on the stated parameters. In conclusion, combinatorial metformin + rosuvastatin may be effective in reducing symptom scores in some subsets of schizo-affective disorder.

Keywords: Schizo-affective disorder, Gene-Environment; CD 28null T cells, Metformin, Rosuvastatin, Prolactin; Depixol.