title: Low levels of serum total antioxidant capacity and presence at admission and absence at discharge of a day/night change as a marker of acute paranoid schizophrenia relapse.
abstract: An oxidant-antioxidant system dysregulation has been described as a schizophrenia pathophysiological base. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is one measure of the antioxidant capacity of a system. Day/night concentration changes is a biological characteristic of hormones such as melatonin or cortisol. There is no information about TAC day/night changes in schizophrenia.
  
  
  
  Studying the existence of a day/night TAC change in schizophrenia.
  
  
  
  Forty-three DSM-IV paranoid schizophrenia inpatients participated in the study. Thirty healthy subjects matched by age and gender acted as control group. Blood was sampled at 12:00 and 00:00h the day after admission and the day before discharge. Serum TAC was measured by the ABTS radical cation technique and expressed in Trolox mmol/L.
  
  
  
  Patients had significantly lower TAC levels at admission and discharge (12:00 and 00:00) than controls. At admission patients had a TAC day/night change, with higher day-time than night-time levels (0.66±0.14 vs 0.60±0.15) as well as healthy subjects (0.83±0.07 vs 0.77±0.11). At discharge patients had a similar TAC level at 12:00 and 00:00 (0.64±0.15 vs 0.63±0.14).
  
  
  
  Schizophrenic patients present a deficit of the antioxidant system. The initial presence and the later absence of a day/night change deserves future studies.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Interna, Dermatología y Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38071. La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain; Consultoria Psiquiátrica, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain. Electronic address: amorera@ull.es.
authors.forename: Armando L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Morera-Fumero
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Ofra. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
authors.forename: Estefanía
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Díaz-Mesa
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Ciencias Medicas Basicas: Unidad de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abreu-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Interna, Dermatología y Psiquiatría, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38071. La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain; Sociedad para la Investigación y Asistencia en Salud Mental, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Lopez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Ofra. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria Del Rosario
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cejas-Mendez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000975:Antioxidants; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D012008:Recurrence; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Acute relapse; Biological markers; Day/night changes; Methodology; Oxidant-antioxidant system; Schizophrenia; Total antioxidant capacity