title: 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3,a potential role player in the development of thyroid disorders in schizophrenics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study was designed to assess the role of vitamin-D, in the development of autoimmune thyroid dysfunction in newly diagnosed schizophrenics.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the present study 100 patients and 100 controls were screened out and studied for their thyroid antibodies, GSH, homocysteine, NOS and vitamin D levels by appropriate protocols to assess the underlying mechanism involved in the schizophrenics susceptible to autoimmune thyroid diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the present study depicted that in schizophrenics, levels of cytokines like IL-6 (7.98±0.67 pg/ml), TNF-α, (40.76±6.98 pg/ml), homocysteine (16.98±1.09 µmol/L), Tg-Ab (30.93±3.87 IU/L), TPO-Ab (10.33±1.78 IU/L) and TSHr-Ab (3.76±0.055 IU/L) increased whereas, those of Vit-D (12.76±0.99 pmol/L), NOS (5.99±0.87 IU/L), GSH (4.48±.965 µg/dl) and NO (16.87±3.98 ng/ml) were decreased in the patients as compared to healthy control subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin-D in schizophrenia is involved in augmentation of hyperhomocysteinemia, inflammation, oxidative stress and thyroid antibodies, thereby playing a significant role not only in induction of schizophrenic symptoms but may also result in autoimmune thyroid diseases. Thus, earlier detection and rectification of its levels are helpful to limit the miseries of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Arif Malik, PhD, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Arif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: Dr. Shamaila Saleem, MBBS, M.Phil, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Shamaila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Dr. Muhammad Abdul Basit Ashraf, MBBS, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Abdul
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Basit Ashraf
authors.affiliation: Dr. Mahmood Husain Qazi, PhD. Centre for Research in Molecular Medicine (CRiMM), The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mahmood Husain
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Qazi
keywords: Autoimmune thyroid diseases; GSH; Homocysteine; NOS; Schizophrenics