Production of a leukocyte migration inhibition factor by peripheral
blood lymphocytes in response to challenge with gluten fractions was
studied in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses
compared with normal individuals and with children and adolescents with
celiac disease. The schizophrenic and other psychotic patients could be
subdivided into two groups, one that responded in the leukocyte migration
inhibition factor test as the celiac patients did and one that responded as
the normal control subjects did. The psychotic and schizophrenic patients
did not show any evidence of malabsorption. The authors speculate that
gluten may be involved in biological processes in the brain in certain
psychotic individuals.
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