Increased levels of nitric oxide, cortisol and adrenomedullin in patients with chronic schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the levels of serum cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), nitric oxide (NO) and adrenomedullin (AM) in schizophrenic patients.


METHODS
Sixty-six male patients with chronic schizophrenia and 28 normal male subjects participated in this study. The duration of disease was 145 +/- 120 (mean +/- SD) months. Serum levels of cortisol and DHEA-S were measured by electrochemiluminescence; plasma nitrite levels as an index of NO were measured with the Griess reaction, while plasma AM concentration was measured by using high-performance liquid chromatography.


RESULTS
Patients (12.48 +/- 3.2 microg/dl), as compared to controls (10.31 +/- 3.1 microg/dl), had higher levels of baseline cortisol (p < 0.05). DHEA-S levels were lower in patients though this did not reach statistical significance (302 +/- 156 microg/dl compared to control, 322 +/- 96 microg/dl, p > 0.05). The mean levels of plasma AM and NO in the schizophrenic group (44.33 +/- 5.07 pmol/l and 36.27 +/- 17.6 micromol/l) were significantly higher than the levels in the control group (14.56 +/- 4.03 pmol/l and 32.54 +/- 7.14 micromol/l; p < 0.001, p < 0.03, respectively). There was a positive association between duration of disease and cortisol/DHEA-S ratio and cortisol level.


CONCLUSIONS
The data show that schizophrenia is associated with abnormal levels of cortisol, DHEA-S, NO and AM.
Yilmaz
Necat
N
Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Turkey. nyilmaz@gantep.edu.tr
Herken
Hasan
H
Cicek
Hülya Kanbur
HK
Celik
Ahmet
A
Yürekli
Muhittin
M
Akyol
Omer
O
D053607:Adrenomedullin / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000097:blood*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
C507862:ADM protein, human; D053607:Adrenomedullin; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone