In addition, prolactin concentration was also associated with variants of the dopamine D2 receptor gene [Calarge et al. 2009b], although this association

could not be established by others [Anderson et al. 2007]. More recently, we have also linked risperidone-induced hyperprolactinemia to body iron stores, with iron deficiency being associated with higher prolactin concentration [Calarge and Ziegler, 2013]. Iron deficiency impairs central dopaminergic signaling and studies in rodents have shown a potentiation of prolactin elevation during AP treatment in the context of iron deficiency Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical [Barkey et al. 1985]. Sex hormones Sex hormones play a key role in the growth spurt and bone mineralization [Phillip and Lazar, 2003].

In a combined analysis of children involved in several long-term clinical trials with risperidone, puberty appeared to have progressed normally [Dunbar et al. 2004]. This was also suggested by two long-term open-label risperidone studies Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical [Reyes et al. 2006b, 2006c]. In none of these studies, however, were serum concentrations of sex hormones directly measured. Moreover, only patients who were able to tolerate risperidone during acute Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical treatment were included, raising questions about the generalizability of the findings. In our work, we found no association between the serum concentration of prolactin and testosterone in risperidone-treated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical boys, after accounting for pubertal development [Calarge et al. 2009b]. The effect of APs on pubertal development and sex hormones is complex since obesity has been associated with earlier onset of puberty. However, as noted above, hyperprolactinemia could induce a hypogonadal

state. Bone mineral density Little work has been conducted to directly explore skeletal health in children and adolescents receiving AP treatment. In the study cited earlier from our group, risperidone-treated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical participants underwent dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the lumbar spine and a peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) scan of the nondominant ultra-distal radius [Calarge Linifanib (ABT-869) et al. 2010]. DXA was used because of its versatility and the selleckchem availability of age- and gender-specific BMD reference values for children [Zemel et al. 2004; Kelly et al. 2005]. However, DXA is a projectional technique. Thus, its measurements are based on the bidimensional projection of a tridimensional structure, resulting in only an approximation of bone size. This limitation makes it vulnerable to inaccuracies in estimating BMD, particularly in youth on either extremes of the height percentile curve. In addition, imprecision could also result from inhomogeneities in body composition. In contrast, pQCT defines the tridimensional bone structure allowing measurement of the true total volumetric BMD, which is less influenced by body size [Pitukcheewanont and Chen, 2005].