THE ROLE OF OLANZAPINE RELATING TO NUTRITIONAL AND ACTIVITY MEASURES IN MALE AND FEMALE RATS.

Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug reported to increase appetite and alter body weight. These side effects, while fairly equal between men andwomen at the clinical level, arefar more common amongjemale than male rats. The objective of the present study was to investigate another mode of olanzapine administration in order to yield a preclinical outcome comparable to clinical results. Olanzapine was placed in sweetened condensed milk to ensure complete consumption of the daily dose of the drug at a specified time, which simulates a human taking the drug on a typical once-a-day schedule. Male and female rats were chronically administered olanzapine over a 3-week period. Olanzapine had no influence on male rats; however, it did produce an increase in food and water intake for female rats. Additionally, regardless of the drug, female rats were more active than male rats. While the current study simulated a human taking the drug on a typical once-a-day schedule, the results failed to replicate the proper diet and likely plasma levels in humans; and provided further support for the administration of olanzapine in food, similar to the human diet, or water throughout each day to emulate the olanzapineinduced weight gain in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]