Efeitos da suplementação com ácidos graxos omega 3 nos distúrbios motores e disfunção cognitiva de pacientes tratados com antipsicóticos típicos

Abstract

About 20 to 25 % of psychiatric patients treated with typical antipsychotics may develop an important movement disorder named tardive dyskinesia, with complex etiology and no effective treatment. Cognitive loss is also associated with antipsychotic treatment being harmful and often difficult to identify. Some studies have shown beneficial effects of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on tardive dyskinesia and on cognition. Considering the available evidences, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial, which evaluated the effect of fish oil supplementation rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (3 g/dia) or placebo (3 capsules / day), for 12 weeks, on motor and cognitive disturbances of patients on use of neuroleptics. Two evaluations were performed, one before supplementation (baseline) and another at the end of it. For this, were used the following evaluation tools: Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale for tardive dyskinesia and Mini-Mental State Examination for cognition. Peripheral blood samples were collected before supplementation (baseline) and 4, 8 and 12 weeks after, in order to monitor the supplementation effects on biochemical parameters- triglycerides (TG), fasting glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and on parameters of blood clotting- prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time. The biological material collected was also used to run the Comet Assay in leukocytes with the aim of investigate the treatment effect on the DNA damage index. After 3 months of supplementation, we observed that fish oil caused an improvement of 18.5 % in tardive dyskinesia, while cognitive performance did not change when compared with the baseline assessment. Furthermore, lipid profile of the patients was not modified, fasting glucose was reduced in all assessments and prothrombin time increased in the last evaluation. In addition, fish oil did not show genotoxic effect (DNA damage index did not change). Therefore, we have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of fish oil rich in Omega 3 on tardive dyskinesia of patients treated with neuroleptics and its low risk of side effects. The increase of prothrombin time suggests a possible anticoagulant effect, requiring its monitoring during chronic treatment.