Effect of Blood Plasma from Psychotic Patients upon Performance of Trained Rats

A variety of biochemical abnormalities has been described in schizophrenia. These include changes in glucose metabolism,1in adrenocortical physiology,2and in blood histamine,3ketones,4and glutathione.5Abnormal urine metabolites have also been described.6-8Weichbrodt9reported that the blood plasma from psychotic patients was toxic for mice, and Fischer10found it to be toxic to the larvae of Xenopus laevis. The latter conclusion has been disputed.11Shapiro12reviewed the literature on attempts to find a toxic substance in cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenic patients; he was unable to detect such a factor when cerebrospinal fluid was injected subcutaneousely into rats. Leach and co-workers13found that the plasma in schizophrenia and certain other diseases oxidize epinephrine more rapidly than normal, and they have obtained a factor from the plasma of schizophrenics which is said to be qualitatively different from normal ceruloplasmin.14