Norepinephrine in chronic paranoid schizophrenia: above-normal levels in limbic forebrain

Science. 1978 Apr 28;200(4340):456-8. doi: 10.1126/science.644310.

Abstract

In postmortem examination of brains of four patients with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, above-normal norepinephrine levels were measured in the ventral septum, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the nucleus accumbens, and the mammillary bodies. No changes were detected in other limbic forebrain regions, including the hypothalamus and the medial olfactory (preoptic) area. The results point to the possibility of a malfunction of limbic noradrenergic mechanisms in schizophrenia, especially the paranoid variety.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Hypothalamus / metabolism
  • Limbic System / metabolism*
  • Norepinephrine / metabolism*
  • Nucleus Accumbens / metabolism
  • Preoptic Area / metabolism
  • Schizophrenia, Paranoid / drug therapy
  • Schizophrenia, Paranoid / metabolism*
  • Suicide
  • Tranquilizing Agents / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Tranquilizing Agents
  • Norepinephrine