Serotonin Metabolite Concentrations in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Schizophrenic Patients—Relationships to Family History

Abstract

The pathophysiology and etiology of schizophrenia have been the subjects of extensive research during the last decade. The results of family-, twin-, and adoption-studies strongly indicate that genetic factors are of etiological importance in a number of cases (Slater and Cowie, 1971; Kety, et al., 1975). The therapeutic effect of neuroleptic drugs in schizophrenia and the possibility to induce schizophrenia-like psychosis by chemical compounds like LSD and amphet­amine stimulated pharmacologists to analyze the mechanism of action of these drugs in the brain. Such an approach might give a clue to the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for the manifestation of psychosis. Subsequent research demonstrated that neuroleptic and hallucinogenic compounds specifically interfere with the monoaminergic mechanisms in the brain (Matthysse and Lipinski, 1975; Carlsson, 1978). Therefore, the possible occurrence of disturbances in the central monoaminergic mechanisms in schizophrenia has been proposed by a number of scientists.