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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The paper deals with a study of 83 patients with different forms of schizophrenia and 15 normals where the methylating activity in converting nicotinamid into methylnicotinamid was determined and the activity of catechol-methyltransferase. In schizophrenic patients there is an increase of the methylating activity which significantly correlated with hallucinatory symptoms in the clinical picture. In patients with cataono-paranoid, paranoid syndromes and simple forms of schizophrenia the methylating activity is seen significantly less frequently. The disappearance of alleviation of hallucinations, due to neuroleptical drugs is accompanied by normalization of the methylating activity. Any significant differences in the excretion of isdarin as an index of cathechol-o-methyltransferase activity in normals and schizophrenic patients was not established.
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PMID:[Several indices of the methylation process in schizophrenic patients]. 1 7

There is considerable similarity between paranoid schizophrenia and psychoses provoked by dopaminergic overstimulation in the central nervous system. The fact that neuroleptics are able to block dopaminergic neural activity has led to the hypothesis that there might exist a common biochemical substrate for schizophrenia and e. g. the amphetamine psychoses. Dopaminergic overstimulation may be elicited by different drugs interacting with the dopamine metabolism e. g. dopamine-beta-hydroxylase inhibition (disulfiram, fusaric acid); monoamine-oxidase-inhibition (phenelzine, tranylcypromine); dopamine release (amphetamine); stimulation of postsynaptic dopamine receptors (bromocriptine, apomorphine). Resulting psychotic symptoms consist of ideas of reference, delusions, visual and acustic hallucinations in a clear setting of consciousness. Psychoses occur usually in subjects, who have suffered from various psychiatric illnesses, which have apparently in common a reduced monoamine-oxidase activity in platelets. It is concluded from various biochemical findings, that psychoses resulting from dopaminergic overstimulation and schizophrenia have different biological substrates.
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PMID:[Psychotropic drugs as tools for clinical research into schizophrenia (author's transl)]. 2 31

In 20 psychotic patients with frequent hallucinations and/or actual delusional experience a possible antipsychotic action of the opiate antagonist naloxone (N-allyl-noroxymorphone) was investigated, using a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design. 18 of these patients were not treated with neuroleptic drugs; 13 suffered from an acute episode of schizophrenia. Psychopathological changes were assessed by the use of the IMPS-scale and of a symptom-specific rating scale (VBS). Intravenous injection of naloxone (in most cases 4.0 mg) induced a reduction of psychotic symptomatology (especially hallucinations) in the majority of patients. Compared with placebo this effect reached statistical significance within 2-7 hours after injection. From this result a possible involvement of endogenous ligands of opiate receptors in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia may be concluded.
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PMID:Indication of an antipsychotic action of the opiate antagonist naloxone. 3 Jan 1

In an effort to establish correlations between abnormal behaviors characteristic of schizophrenia and simultaneous cerebral electrical activity, EEGs and electro-oculograms (EOGs) were continuously recorded for 2 to 24 hours by radiotelemetry from 40 patients with schizophrenia and 12 normal control subjects. Trained observers recorded specific behavior patterns permitting visual and computer analysis of EEG during hallucinations, stereotypy, catatonia, psychomotor blocking, and other characteristic manifestations of schizophrenia. Electroencephalographic abnormalities consisting of focal slow or spike activity over either temporal region were found in nearly half of the patients so recorded. In contrast to the EEG during ictal episodes of epilepsy, the abnormal wave forms of schizophrenic patients seldom coincided with episodes of blocking, stereotypy, or other abnormal behaviors. Increased extraocular activity or blinking were recorded in a majority of patients, but were not consistently associated with the abnormal behavior or perceptual events.
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PMID:Telemetered EEG-EOG during psychotic behaviors of schizophrenia. 3 32

A study was made of platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in non-medicated, newly-admitted schizophrenics and institutionalized chronic schizophrenics both on and off medication. These patients were compared to two control groups: normal subjects and brain-damaged institutionalized patients. No relationship was found between platelet MAO activity and the severity or duration of illness, duration of psychotropic medication, presence of auditory hallucinations or institutionalization. Mean platelet MAO activity did not differ significantly between the schizophrenic subgroups and control groups. Thirty-one patients studied before and after treatment with phenothiazines showed no significant change in platelet MAO activity. The findings did not indicate a relationship between schizophrenia, its treatment or outcome and platelet MAO activity.
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PMID:Platelet monoamine oxidase activity in schizophrenia. Relationship to disease, treatment, institutionalization and outcome. 3 92

The diagnosis of schizophrenia is established principally by the presence of certain psychological symptoms which although subjective can be reliably assessed by standardized interviewing procedures. The most characteristic symptoms (Schneider's first-rank symptoms) fall into three groups: (a) auditory hallucinations of particular types, (b) 'ego-boundary disturbances', including intrusions into the stream of consciousness attributed to external agencies, and (c) delusional perception. Symptoms closely resembling those seen in schizophrenia can be induced in non-schizophrenic individuals by amphetamine-like drugs, and both these symptoms and those of schizophrenia are ameliorated by neuroleptic drugs (the major tranquillizers). Amphetamines facilitate and neuroleptic drugs diminish neural transmission mediated by the chemical substance dopamine. In recent post-mortem studies on patients who had suffered brom schizophrenia, it was found that dopamine release was not increased. However, in some cases there was evidence of increased sensitivity of the dopamine receptor.
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PMID:Schizophrenia: the nature of the psychological disturbance and its possible neurochemcial basis. 4 59

In a double-blind trial in which 45 patients with acute schizophrenia took part the alpha-isomer of flupenthixol (which blocks the dopamine receptor) was found to be significantly more effective than both beta-flupenthixol (which does not) and placebo. The drug effect was confined to the "positive" symptoms--delusions, hallucinations, and though disorder--and appeared only in the 3rd and 4th weeks of the trial. It was as great in patients with evidence of deterioration (Feighner-positive patients) as in patients without deterioration and was less in patients who had affective disturbance in addition to schizophrenia symptoms. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that dopamine-receptor blockade is the only requirement for antipsychotic activity and suggest that the antipsychotic effect occurs in patients with typically schizophrenic illnesses but may be limited to positive symptoms.
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PMID:Mechanism of the antipsychotic effect in the treatment of acute schizophrenia. 7 97

A study of the neuropathology of the superior olivary nucleus and its relationship to schizophrenia or auditory hallucinations was undertaken. No relationship was found to exist between them, but atrophy of the superior olivary nucleus was found in all the patients who had presented with seizures during life. The aetiology of superior olivary atrophy is discussed.
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PMID:Superior olivary complex in psychotic patients. 12 96

1. The release of endorphins appears to play a role as a reserve-mechanism in stress situations. 2. The application of high doses of the specific opiate antagonist 12-allyl-7,7a,8,9-tetrahydro-3,7a-dihydroxy-(4aH)-(8,9-c)-iminoethanophenanthro(4,5-b,c,d)furan-5(6H)-one (naloxone) to schizophrenic patients induces a partial reversal of hallucinations and actual delusional experience within 2--7 h after injection. 3. The blockade of opiate receptors by naloxone is possibly also effective against catatonic states of schizophrenia. 4. In affective psychoses no curative action of naloxone could be detected so far.
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PMID:[The possibility of endorphins playing a role in psychic disturbances]. 22 79

The visual hallucinations experienced by a 26-year-old woman under the influence of hallucinogens and during schizophrenia are described. Three types of hallucinations are delineated: (1) superimposed hallucinations, (2) spatial and depth distortions, and (3) animations. These three types of hallucinations appear to represent consecutive gradations on a continuum of the ego function of reality testing, with superimposed hallucinations revealing the least and animations the greatest degree of disorientation. The findings of the present study indicate the need for a research design that compares the hallucinations of schizophrenics to the toxic hallucinations of nonschizophrenics.
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PMID:Visual hallucinations during hallucinogenic experience and schizophrenia. 51 9


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