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)

The present study reports on the association between Phenylthiocarbamide tasting for paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenic patients. The incidence of PTC tasting is highly variable, and tasters and nontasters are frequently associated with some pathological states. 25 paranoid and 25 nonparanoid schizophrenic patients were examined for their PTC taste sensitivity. Frequency of paranoid tasters resembles the distribution of the normal population, whereas the nonparanoid patients are significantly different in their taste thresholds, with a higher incidence of nontasters. The members of this latter group have twice the incidence of psychiatric illness in their family histories as those of the former group. The significance of these findings is discussed as related to vulnerability for schizophrenia.
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PMID:Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) tasting in paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenic patients. 159 98

The inability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC; "taste-blindness") has been associated with a number of medical and neurological illnesses not typically related to taste. We examined PTC sensitivity in 67 schizophrenia patients, 30 healthy controls, and 30 first-degree relatives to determine whether taster status could represent a simple vulnerability marker. A higher prevalence of non-tasters was seen in patients and family members relative to healthy controls. Among patients, non-tasters exhibited increased levels of negative and first-rank symptoms as well as poorer right nostril odor identification skills relative to PTC tasters. These differences were not explained by age, sex, education, smoking, or intensity differences. Phenotypic variation in PTC sensitivity is thought to be genetic in origin and suggests greater illness risk for those subjects with recessive taster alleles.
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PMID:Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) perception in patients with schizophrenia and first-degree family members: relationship to clinical symptomatology and psychophysical olfactory performance. 1720 11