Peripheral immune-cell bioenergetics in acute and stable schizophrenia

Abstract Introduction Immune and metabolic abnormalities are implicated in schizophrenia, but their functional integration remains unclear. Methods We measured PBMC bioenergetics by Seahorse extracellular flux analysis in healthy controls, acutely ill antipsychotic-naive patients, and stable patients receiving olanzapine or risperidone/paliperidone. Results Acute schizophrenia showed increased glycolytic ATP production and an altered PBMC bioenergetic phenotype, without significant differences in composite mitochondrial integrity indices. Glycolytic measures were lower in stable treated patients, particularly under olanzapine, although treatment and illness-state effects cannot be separated. Neither plasma nor unstimulated PBMC culture-supernatant cytokines differed after FDR correction. Conclusion PBMC bioenergetic profiling may provide a hypothesis-generating readout of acute-state-associated metabolic reprogramming.