title: Prolactin and psychopathology in schizophrenia: a literature review and reappraisal.
abstract: Secretion of the anterior pituitary hormone prolactin can be significantly increased by antipsychotic drugs, leading to a range of adverse effects in patients with schizophrenia. However, there is evidence from a variety of studies that prolactin may also be related to symptom profile and treatment response in these patients, and recent work has identified variations in prolactin secretion even in drug-free patients. In this paper, a selective review of all relevant studies pertaining to prolactin and schizophrenia, including challenge and provocation studies, is presented. The implications of this work are discussed critically. A tentative model, which synthesizes these findings and argues for a significant role for prolactin in the development of schizophrenia, is outlined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Dhanvantari Nagar, 605 006 Pondicherry, India.
authors.forename: Ravi Philip
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Rajkumar