Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Some 50 years ago the enzyme MAO was discovered by Hare and in the early 1930s Blaschko suggested that MAO may play an important role in the catabolism of monoamines in the central nervous system. With the discovery of iproniazid as an inhibitor of MAO and its introduction as an anti-depressant, many aspects of MAO activity and biogenic amine metabolism in experimental animals and man were examined. Although many other inhibitors of MAO were discovered and used therapeutically as anti-depressants, these drugs fell into disrepute largely because of their side-effects. Furthermore, their anti-depressant properties were questioned. After some years of relative inactivity there is now a revival of interest in the functional role of MAO in the central nervous system and drugs that inhibit or stimulate its activity "specifically". The basic reason for the upsurge of interest is that the enzyme from many tissues, including the brain of animals as well as man, has been purified and characterised. The evidence that neuronal MAO exist with different substrate and inhibitor specificities has led to the suggestion that they have physiological function and that deamination of non-methylated biogenic monoamines can take place in neurons. These findings have led to the advent of new drugs (clorgyline and depranil) with "selective" inhibition of enzyme forms. Their possible usage in the chemotherapy of depressive illness should be considered seriously. Fluctuation in peripheral organs as well as brain MAO is well documented. Recently they have been associated with changes in naturally occurring steroids. Although a decrease in platelet and brain MAO activity has been reported in a number of affect disorders (schizophrenia and bipolar depression) the results of these findings have recently been questioned (20, 141). Obviously further study in this area of research discussed is badly needed.
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PMID:Monoamine oxidase. Its inhibition. 110 Oct 49

Some investigators have speculated that structural brain alterations observed in some psychiatric patients might be related to increased limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (LHPA) activity. To explore this hypothesis, we prospectively studied 166 research volunteers (19 patients with research diagnostic criteria (RDC) major depression, 9 patients with RDC bipolar depression, 45 patients with RDC schizophrenia, and 94 RDC normal controls), examining the relationship between magnetic resonance image-determined ventricular-to-brain ratio (VBR) and indices of LHPA axis function (cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), CSF adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and 24-hour urinary-free cortisol secretion). We observed no significant differences in mean VBR among the three patient groups and the normal control volunteers. Of the indices of LHPA activity, only CSF CRF concentrations distinguished the four subject groups, with CSF CRF being significantly elevated in the more severely depressed major depression patients. Indices of LHPA activity were not significantly correlated with VBR in any of the three patient groups or in the normal volunteers. These preliminary results suggest that VBR is not highly associated with alterations in LHPA activity, at least as determined cross-sectionally. Further longitudinal studies with reference to diagnostic subtypes, severity, symptom profiles, and more specific neuroanatomic regions may allow the elucidation of possible relationships between LHPA pathology and structural brain alterations.
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PMID:Limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and ventricular-to-brain ratio studies in affective illness and schizophrenia. 131 68

Introduction of therapeutically effective psychotropic drugs focused attention on the heterogeneity of psychiatric populations within the traditional diagnostic categories of psychiatric disorders. Recognition that valid diagnostic concepts are essential for progress in the biology and pharmacotherapy of psychiatric disorders resulted in a revival of interest in psychiatric nosology with a special emphasis on Leonhard's classification of 'endogenous psychoses'. Of particular importance for psychopharmacology in Leonhard's system is the recognition of two distinctive populations within the schizophrenic disorders, i.e., 'unsystematic schizophrenias' and 'systematic schizophrenias'; three distinctive populations within the bipolar disorders, i.e., 'manic-depressive illness,' 'cycloid psychoses' and 'unsystematic schizophrenias'; and two distinctive populations within depressive disorders, i.e., 'unipolar depression' and 'bipolar depression'. In this paper supporting data for Leonhard's classification of 'endogenous psychoses' are presented.
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PMID:Clinical pharmacology and Leonhard's classification of endogenous psychoses. 198 84

Platelet MAO activity has been reported by several investigators to differentiate schizophrenia, schizophrenia related depressive disorders, alcoholism, unipolar and bipolar depression from normal controls. Evoked potentials likewise have differentiated schizophrenic and affective patients. However, the precise relationship between MAO activity, evoked potentials (EP), and psychiatric illness has not been clarified. A possible association between psychopathology and high MAO activity/EP reducing and low MAO activity/EP augmenting has been reported. Such a bidirectionality further confounds results. This study was undertaken to determine the association of psychopathological dimensions found in a group of subjects whose platelet MAO activity and evoked responses were obtained two years earlier. Utilizing the Gottschalk-Gleser verbal behavior scales of Anxiety, Depression, Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization and Cognitive Impairment a significant correlation was revealed between low platelet MAO activity and high Total Anxiety scale and Shame Anxiety subscale scores. Additionally, a significant correlation was demonstrated between reducing evoked potentials and elevated Death Anxiety, Somatic Concerns, and Total Death and Mutilation Depression subscales scores, combined and separately. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation was found between augmenting evoked potentials and Overt Hostility Outward scores. No significant correlations were demonstrated between platelet MAO activity or evoked potentials and Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization or Cognitive Impairment scores. These findings lend support to the position that biological markers may predict predispositions to anxiety and depression.
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PMID:Platelet monoamine oxidase activity and evoked response as predictors of anxiety and depression derived from the content analysis of speech. 221 39

The response of depressive symptoms to ECT was studied in 58 subjects who met DSM-III criteria for major depression. For data analysis, the sample was divided by diagnosis into categories of primary unipolar depression, bipolar depression, and secondary depression. Only 56% of the secondary depression group had a partial or complete remission of depressive symptoms, but 91% of the primary unipolar group and 100% of the primary bipolar group improved. Subdividing the secondary depression group by primary diagnosis revealed a differential response, with alcoholism and schizophrenia having the most favorable outcomes.
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PMID:ECT in primary and secondary depression. 371 Oct 27

1. Some recent research on the behavioural effects of phenylethylamine and some recent data implicating the trace amines in schizophrenia, agoraphobia and aggression are briefly outlined. 2. Phenylethylamine produces in mice a distinctive hyperactivity syndrome consisting of two phases; it appears to act via dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine on different components of these stereotypies. 3. Urinary unconjugated tryptamine, and meta- and para-tyramine appear to be excreted in reduced amounts in schizophrenia and bipolar depression. 4. The blood levels of the trace acids phenylacetic and meta- and para-hydroxyphenylacetic are reduced in schizophrenia. 5. Blood levels of conjugated phenylacetic and unconjugated para-hydroxyphenylacetic acid are reduced in violent as opposed to non-violent offenders. 6. The neuromodulatory role of the trace amines and their possible involvement in components of behaviour and certain mental disorders are discussed.
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PMID:Some aspects of basic psychopharmacology: the trace amines. 629 92

Neurobiologic research has discovered a number of abnormalities that might serve as biologic markers for specific psychiatric disorders. Tests for these markers could aid in differential diagnosis and in the choice and monitoring of treatment. Tests with potential clinical utility in affective illness (unipolar and bipolar depression and mania), panic disorder, and schizophrenia are discussed.
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PMID:Biologic tests in psychiatry. 643 2

The authors compared 65 patients with major depression and psychotic features to 192 patients with major depression and no psychotic features in terms of clinical features, family history, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis function. In accord with other studies, patients with psychotic depression were more likely to have bipolar depression, psychomotor disturbance, a family history of schizophrenia, and a more severely disordered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Whether psychotic depression is best considered apart from nonpsychotic depression or as simply a more severe form of depression remains unsettled. Nevertheless, research to date does give the diagnosis of psychotic depression a practical significance which is enhanced by its simplicity.
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PMID:The clinical and neuroendocrine features of psychotic depression. 647 Jun 94

Levels of urinary neopterin and biopterin were determined in patients having a diagnosis of schizophrenia, unipolar depression, or bipolar depression. Both neopterin and biopterin levels were significantly higher in the urine of patients with unipolar depression than in the urine of the control group. Subclassification of patients into primary and secondary depression demonstrated a significant elevation of urinary biopterin in both groups, whereas urinary neopterin was elevated only in those patients with primary depression. In patients with bipolar depression, neopterin excretion was elevated, but biopterin excretion did not differ from controls. No significant differences were found in schizophrenic patients.
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PMID:Urinary excretion of biopterin and neopterin in psychiatric disorders. 658 38

Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher after administration of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), 200 mg orally, in unmedicated patients with affective disorders than in controls. The magnitude of the serum cortisol increase correlated positively with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Change (SADS-C) depression syndrome ratings and correlated negatively with psychotic symptoms in 26 patients with major depression. The serum cortisol response was greater in four depressed and three manic patients who made suicide attempts than in 33 patients who were not suicidal or only had suicidal thoughts. The cortisol response was also greater in patients with bipolar depression than in those with unipolar depression and those with a first-degree relative with an affective disorder. Absence of psychotic symptoms and commission of suicidal acts were associated with an increased cortisol response to 5-HTP in the depressed patients. The cortisol response to 5-HTP in the manic patients also tended to correlate with the SADS-C manic syndrome score.
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PMID:Effect of 5-hydroxytryptophan on serum cortisol levels in major affective disorders. II. Relation to suicide, psychosis, and depressive symptoms. 660 36


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