Serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and the augmenting-reducing response.
In 84 consecutively admitted inpatients, as well as in 7 healthy volunteers, visual evoked potential to stimuli of varying intensities and serum DBH activity were determined. Patients with an augmenting (Aug.) response, i.e., a tendency to enlarge the perception of stimulation, were found to have the lowest serum DBH activities. As Aug. patients have earlier been shown to have low levels of HVA in CSF, indicating a low turnover in the dopaminergic systems in the CNS, the results indicate that the genetic factor determining the serum DBH activity may in some way also reflect the dopaminergic turnover in CNS.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004299:Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000201:enzymology; D008875:Middle Aged; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D004299:Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase