Plasma metabonomics study of first-Episode schizophrenia treated with olanzapine in female patients

•Tests of blood glucose and lipids were conducted at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment with olanzapine.•Compared with the control group, the case group showed significant changes in plasma metabolites.•In the therapeutically effective cases, metabolites appeared to change towards the normal trend.•The metabonomics that we found can be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a persistent chronic mental illness with an unknown pathogenic mechanism; no empirical laboratory-based tests are available to support the diagnosis of schizophrenia or to identify biomarkers correlated with the therapeutic effect of olanzapine. For this study, 15 female first-episode, drug-naïve patients with schizophrenia and 15 healthy female volunteers were recruited. Tests for blood glucose and lipids were conducted at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment with olanzapine. UPLC–MS based metabonomic analysis was performed on both case and control groups to identify biomarkers of schizophrenia at baseline and to explore which biomarkers correlated with the therapeutic effect of olanzapine after a 4-week treatment. Compared with the control group, the case group showed significant changes in plasma metabolites. Thirteen distinct metabolites were identified. Among all the therapeutically effective cases, levels of these metabolites appeared to shift towards the normal trend; 8 of the identified 13 metabolites changed dramatically. The metabolites that we found are potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia.