A multidimensional approach to analysis of cerebrospinal fluid biogenic amines in schizophrenia: II. Correlations with psychopathology

Fuad Issa, Darrell G. Kirch, Greg A. Gerhardt, John J. Bartko, Richard L. Suddath, Robert Freedman, Richard Jet Wyatt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

As part of a multidimensional study of cerebrospinal fluid biogenic amine metabolites in schizophrenia, the relationship between neurochemical measures and psychopathology assessed using the Psychiatric Symptom Assessment Scale (PSAS) was analyzed. In a group of 20 unmedicated patients, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) was a predictor of symptom severity in a stepwise multiple regression model. Values of 3-hydroxykynurenine and metanephrine in the unmedicated state predicted clinical response in a stepwise multiple regression model, as measured by improvement in PSAS mean item score following 6 weeks on a standard dose of neuroleptic. In a subgroup of 14 patients in whom both off- and on-medication concentrations of cerebrospinal fluid biogenic amines and metabolites were measured, change in 3-hydroxykynurenine predicted clinical outcome in a multiple regression model. These findings point toward the need to examine the role of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)251-258
Number of pages8
JournalPsychiatry Research
Volume52
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1994

Keywords

  • Dopamine
  • Psychiatric Symptom Assessment Scale
  • kynurenine
  • norepinephrine
  • serotonin

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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