title: Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid monoamine metabolism in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: preliminary findings.
abstract: The syndrome of chronic fatigue, feverishness, diffuse pains, and other constitutional complaints, often precipitated by an acute infectious illness and aggravated by physical and emotional stressors, has a lengthy history in the medical literature. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently formulated a case definition, renaming the illness "chronic fatigue syndrome." Nevertheless, there remain few biological data that can validate the existence of this syndrome as distinct from a wide variety of other, largely psychiatric disorders, and little understanding of its pathogenesis. In the present study, basal plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of the monoamine metabolites, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and homovanillic acid (HVA) were determined in 19 patients meeting CDC research case criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and in 17 normal individuals. Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome showed a significant reduction in basal plasma levels of MHPG and a significant increase in basal plasma levels of 5-HIAA. Although the functional significance of these findings has not been definitively elucidated, they are compatible with the clinical presentation of a syndrome associated with chronic lethargy and fatigue, and with evidence of persistent immune stimulation, and lend support to the idea that chronic fatigue syndrome represents a clinical entity with potential biological specificity.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006801:Humans; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D008297:Male; D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D008734:Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid; D006719:Homovanillic Acid