Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1171-1177
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Importance of dopamine metabolism for clinical effects and side effects of neuroleptics
HM Van Praag and J Korf
The authors studied the relation between human central dopamine (DA)
metabolism and the clinical effects of neuroleptics. The neuroleptic-
induced increase in central DA turnover (an indicator for the degree of DA
receptor blocking) was found to be positively correlated with the
therapeutic effect of neuroleptics and the development of hypokinetic-
rigid symptoms. This supplies a direct argument in support of the
contention that DA antagonism is related to the occurrence of clinical
effects. The authors also found indications that neuroleptics of different
chemical types do not significantly differ in their intrinsic ability to
provoke hypokinetic-rigid symptoms, that development of these symptoms
depends on the patient's individual susceptibility, and that individual
susceptibility is based on relatively low DA turnover.
