First-episode neuroleptic-free schizophrenics: Concentrations of monoamines and their metabolites in plasma and their correlations with clinical responses to haloperidol treatment

Thirty-two first-episode neuroleptic-free schizophrenics were treated with neuroleptics for 8 weeks. The monoamines and their metabolites, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, homovanillic acid (HVA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylglycol(MHPG), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in plasma were meas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychiatry (1969) 1997-04, Vol.41 (8), p.857-864
Main Authors: Nagaoka, Shigeyuki, Iwamoto, Norihiko, Arai, Heii
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use
Biogenic Monoamines - blood
Biological and medical sciences
Dopamine - blood
drug-naive
Female
first-episode
Haloperidol - therapeutic use
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Monoamine metabolites
neuroleptic-treatment
Norepinephrine - blood
plasma
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychoses
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - blood
Schizophrenia - drug therapy
Schizophrenic Psychology
Serotonin - blood
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Summary:Thirty-two first-episode neuroleptic-free schizophrenics were treated with neuroleptics for 8 weeks. The monoamines and their metabolites, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, homovanillic acid (HVA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylglycol(MHPG), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in plasma were measured to examine the association with treatment responses and psychopathology assessed according to the brief psychiatry rating scale (BPRS). No differences were noted in the pretreatment concentrations of monoamines and their metabolites between patients and healthy controls; however, during treatment the concentrations of HVA and MHPG were significantly reduced only in the schizophrenics who responded to treatment. Moreover, the HVA and MHPG reductions correlated significantly with improvements in BPRS scores. Since their plasma levels reflect to some extent central dopaminergic and noradrenergic activities, respectively, the present findings suggest the involvement of these systems in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia as well as the usefulness of such measurements as predictors of responsiveness to neuroleptics.
ISSN:0006-3223
1873-2402
DOI:10.1016/S0006-3223(96)00244-2