What can clozapine’s effect on neural oscillations tell us about its therapeutic effects? A scoping review and synthesis

Clozapine, a drug effective in treatment resistant schizophrenia, can modulate the brain’s electrical activity as measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG). Past reviews have focused on synthesizing literature related to epileptiform activity or rate of seizures in clozapine treated individuals. The aim of this review was to determine whether clozapine’s mediated effects on measurements related to neural oscillations can inform its therapeutic effects. Here, literature pertaining to studies that implemented pre-post designed investigations of clozapine and measured frequency characteristics of neural oscillations in individuals with schizophrenia were reviewed. The synthesis of findings suggests that while clozapine is associated with alterations in all neural oscillations, slower waves (delta and theta) are consistently increased in power by clozapine. We then further discuss potential mechanisms that may underlie these effects of clozapine. Future research can implement the findings of this review to motivate hypothesis-driven investigations into clozapine responsiveness biomarkers.