Beta-glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae reduces plasma lipid peroxidation induced by haloperidol

Since oxidative stress observed in schizophrenia may be caused partially by the treatment of patients with various antipsychotics, the aim of the study was to establish the effects of beta-d-glucan, polysaccharide derived from the yeast cell walls of species such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the antipsychotics (the first generation antipsychotic (FGA) – haloperidol and the second generation antipsychotic (SGA) – amisulpride) action on plasma lipid peroxidation in vitro. Lipid peroxidation in human plasma was measured by the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS). The samples of plasma from healthy subjects were incubated with haloperidol or amisulpride in the presence of beta-glucan (4μg/ml). The action of beta-d-glucan was also compared with the properties of a well characterized commercial monomeric polyphenol – resveratrol (3,4′,5-trihydroxystilbene, the final concentration – 4μg/ml). The two-way analysis variance showed that the differences in TBARS levels were depended on the type of tested drugs (p=7.9×10⁻⁶). We observed a statistically increase of the level of biomarker of lipid peroxidation such as TBARS after 1 and 24h incubation of plasma with haloperidol compared to the control samples (p<0.01, p<0.02, respectively). Amisulpride, contrary to haloperidol (after 1 and 24h) did not cause plasma lipid peroxidation (p>0.05). We showed that in the presence of beta-glucan, lipid peroxidation in plasma samples treated with haloperidol was significantly decreased. Moreover, we did not observe the synergistic action of beta-glucan and amisulpride on the inhibition of plasma lipid peroxidation. However, the beta-d-glucan was found to be more effective antioxidant, than the solution of pure resveratrol. The presented results indicate that beta-glucan seems to have distinctly protective effects against the impairment of plasma lipid molecules induced by haloperidol.