The effect of IV physostigmine administration on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of homovanillic acid (HVA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in normal subjects was determined. After an adjustment for differing CSF concentrations of probenecid, physostigmine was found to elevate CSF HVA and DOPAC concentrations. The authors discuss these changes in CSF HVA and DOPAC and their possible relationship to the ability of physostigmine to decrease the symptoms of some patients with tardive dyskinesia.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗

PubMed1981

Statistical power in biological psychiatry.

The use of statistical power and power analysis in both the design and evaluation of experiments in biological psychiatry is described. The possible consequences of low power investigations are discussed, and guidelines are provided to facilitate the application of power analysis. Power curves are provided for sample sizes ranging from 10 to 100 for the Student's t test, and for testing the significance of an obtained Pearson correlation coefficient at both the 0.01 and 0.05 alpha levels. Additionally, difference scales are provided for plasma cortisol and for several neurotransmitter metabolites that are frequently measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Power evaluation of selected CSF studies measuring neurotransmitter metabolites in depressives and controls suggests the majority had less than a 50% chance of detecting a medium size difference before the experiment was actually performed.

Depressive Disorder↗

PubMed1981

The genetics and biochemistry of paranoid schizophrenia and other paranoid psychoses.

Genetic and biochemical findings in paranoid schizophrenia and other paranoid psychoses are reviewed. Although the data suggesting a lower genetic loading for schizophrenia in paranoid versus nonparanoid schizophrenia are unclear, paranoid schizophrenia does, to a limited extent, breed true within families. Monozygotic twins concordant for schizophrenia tend to be either both paranoid or both nonparanoid schizophrenics. In all studies, the risk for schizophrenia in the relatives of patients with paranoid psychosis is close to that found in the normal population. Genetic studies provide no evidence for a link between affective illness and either paranoid schizophrenia or paranoid psychosis. Although reports of low platelet monoamine oxidase activity in paranoid schizophrenia have not been confirmed, recent results suggest that brain norepinephrine levels may be higher in paranoid than in nonparanoid schizophrenics. Genetic and biochemical findings suggest some differences between paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenia, but definitive clarification of the relationship between these two syndromes must await future research. From a genetic perspective, paranoid psychosis appears to bear little relationship to schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1981

Neuroendocrine and neurochemical measurements in depression.

The authors performed dexamethasone suppression tests (DST), TRH infusions, 72-hour urine collections, and lumbar punctures on a group of male depressed patients. Approximately 60% of the patients were DST positive and 33% had a blunted TSH response. Two biologic variables, the 8 a.m. postdexamethasone cortisol and the postprobenecid CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), accounted for over half of the variance in the behavioral measure, the Hamilton score. Plasma cortisol elevation was associated with high 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl glycol (MHPG) excretion; TSH blunting was associated with low urinary MHPG excretion. Comprehensive biologic measures showed certain significant interrelationships and correlations with the severity of depression.

Adult↗

PubMed1981

Lithium's effect of parathyroid hormone.

Lithium has been reported to raise serum calcium and lower serum phosphate concentrations and to increase urinary calcium excretion. Because these changes may be effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH), PTH was measured in 19 patients receiving lithium. PTH was significantly higher in these patients than in 150 normal subjects. For all patients serum calcium concentrations correlated significantly with serum lithium concentrations. These results indicate that lithium may cause biochemical hyperparathyroidism. Secondary hyperparathyroidism in certain patients with lithium nephrotoxicity is also possible.

Adult↗

PubMed1981

Biological perspectives in chronic pain, depression, and organic mental disorders.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

PubMed1980

Cholinomimetics and memory. The effect of choline chloride.

Young normal subjects received 16 g of choline chloride in a double-blind A-B-A design. Short- and long-term memory function was evaluated. Comparison of group means indicated that choline chloride did not significantly affect short-term memory or long-term memory. However, individual subjects may have had some aspects of long-term memory affected by choline chloride treatments. The results suggest that the effect of lower doses of choline on long-term memory should be evaluated.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

beta-Endorphin and schizophrenia.

To study the effects of beta-endorphin in chronic schizophrenia, nine male patients participated in a double-blind crossover comparison of a single intravenous 20-mg injection of beta-endorphin and saline. Bolus injection of beta-endorphin from an albumin-coated syringe produced markedly higher plasma concentrations than did slow intravenous infusion from a non-albumin-coated syringe. Beta-endorphin intravenously injected in nine patients produced a statistically significant increase in serum prolactin levels. In one patient, both 10 mg of morphine sulfate and 20 mg of beta-endorphin produced similar increases in the alpha power of the EEG. In eight patients, beta-endorphin administration was associated with a statistically significant but not clinically obvious improvement in schizophrenic symptoms.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Subtypes of depression based on excretion of MHPG and response to nortriptyline.

We investigated the relationship between urinary excretion of MHPG and the clinical response of 17 depressed patients to nortriptyline hydrochloride. Plasma concentrations of nortriptyline were monitored to assure optimal doses. Patients were classified as having "low" or "normal-high" excretion of MHPG based on one to five 24-hour urine specimens. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores were not reduced significantly more among the nine low excreters as compared with the eight normal-high excreters. However, when a true bimodal distribution of MHPG excretion was created by comparing only the six lowest excreters with the six highest excreters, the low group improved significantly more than the high group. This differential response to nortriptyline somewhat supports the notion that MHPG excretion may predict response to specific tricyclics. Collecting urine for MHPG determination in depressed patients is not easy; the variability of excretion within patients is considerable, and the range of MHPG excretion closely parallels that in normal persons. The clinical utility of this procedure is still to be determined.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

MSH and MIF-I in animal models of tardive dyskinesia.

alpha-Melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) and MSH release inhibiting factor (MIF-I) were tested for their effects on animals with prior exposure to haloperidol. Such animals are known to have an augmented sterotypic response to dopamine agonists and have been used as an animal model of tardive dyskinesia. Both MSH and MIF-I increased the stereotypy that followed the administration of the lowest dose of apomorphine (0.125 mg/kg), suggesting that MSH and MIF-I might weakly increase dopaminergic transmission.

Animals↗

PubMed1980

Choline chloride effects on memory: correlation with the effects of physostigmine.

Choline chloride (2g q.i.d.) and placebo were admin stered to nine young adults in a placebo-drug-placebo design. Subjects took memory tests at the end of both placebo periods and at the end of the choline period. All nine subjects had participated in a previous study in which 1.0 mg of physostigmine infused over a 1-hour period improved memory performance relative to performance during a saline infusion (Davis et al., 1978b). Choline had no significant efect on average performance either on a test of memory storage or on a test of memory retrieval. However, correlational analysis indicated that subjects who improved most when given physostigmine tended to show slight improvement when given choline. These results suggest that choline does not have substantial effects on memory but that there are small cognitive effects of choline in some subjects.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Choline chloride effects on memory in the elderly.

Choline chloride (2 g QID) and placebo were administered to 10 subjects over age 60 in a placebo-drug placebo design. Subjects first took placebo for 7 days, followed by choline for 21 days and finally took placebo for another 21 days. Memory tests were given at the end of both placebo periods and twice during choline administration. Choline did not significantly affect performance on a test of memory storage, a test of retrieval from memory or on the digit span test. In addition, a correlational analysis showed that the difference between memory performance during choline administration and during placebo administration was not significantly related to baseline memory performance. These results, together with results of previous studies indicate that choline is not an effective agent for improving memory in nondemented elderly patients.

Acetylcholine↗