Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:78-82
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
Urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and psychiatric diagnosis
SL Taube, LS Kirstein, DR Sweeney, GR Heninger and JW Maas
The authors examined the quantities of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol
(MHPG) in the urine of 11 schizophrenic female patients, 14 primary
affective disorder (depressed type) female patients, and 10 healthy
comparison women. The primary affective disorder patients had significantly
less MHPG in their urine than did the comparison subjects. The
schizophrenic patients when compared with the healthy subjects or the
depressed patients did not excrete significantly different amounts of MHPG
in urine. The variance in MHPG in schizophrenic patients was quite large;
some had very low urinary MHPG. There was a significant positive
correlation between agitation and urinary MHPG for schizophrenic but not
depressed patients. The authors discuss theoretical and practical
implications of these findings.
