Long-term effects of adolescent risperidone treatment on mouse cortex

Despite multiple rodent studies showing long-term neurocognitive dysfunction associated with adolescent antipsychotic treatment, there is a lack of understanding of neurobiological underpinnings of these long-term changes. We utilized single nucleus RNA-seq to assess the long-term transcriptomic changes in mouse cortex, 9 weeks after they were treated with risperidone during adolescence.

Analysis of the mouse cortex snRNA-seq dataset showed downregulation in voltage-gated and inwardly rectifying potassium channels and genes associated with synaptic structure and function in pyramidal neurons and interneurons. Our findings suggest that adolescent risperidone treatment can cause long-term transcriptomic changes associated with altered excitatory-inhibitory neuronal interactions.