Nicotine and caffeine modulate haloperidol-induced changes in postsynaptic density transcripts expression: Translational insights in psychosis therapy and treatment resistance

Abstract Caffeine and nicotine are widely used by schizophrenia patients and may worsen psychosis and affect antipsychotic therapies. However, they have also been accounted as augmentation strategies in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Despite both substances are known to modulate dopamine and glutamate transmission, little is known about the molecular changes induced by these compounds in association to antipsychotics, mostly at the level of the postsynaptic density (PSD), a site of dopamine-glutamate interplay. Here we investigated whether caffeine and nicotine, alone or combined with haloperidol, elicited significant changes in the levels of both transcripts and proteins of the PSD members Homer1 and Arc, which have been implicated in synaptic plasticity, schizophrenia pathophysiology, and antipsychotics molecular action. Homer1a mRNA expression was significantly reduced by caffeine and nicotine, alone or combined with haloperidol, compared to haloperidol. Haloperidol induced significantly higher Arc mRNA levels than both caffeine and caffeine plus haloperidol in the striatum. Arc mRNA expression was significantly higher by nicotine plus haloperidol vs. haloperidol in the cortex, while in striatum gene expression by nicotine was significantly lower than that by both haloperidol and nicotine plus haloperidol. Both Homer1a and Arc protein levels were significantly increased by caffeine, nicotine, and nicotine plus haloperidol. Homer1b mRNA expression was significantly increased by nicotine and nicotine plus haloperidol, while protein levels were unaffected. Locomotor activity was not significantly affected by caffeine, while it was reduced by nicotine. These data indicate that both caffeine and nicotine trigger relevant molecular changes in PSD sites when given in association with haloperidol.