만성 정신분열증 환자의 뇌단층 촬영 소견과 혈청 Prolactin 농도 및 정신병리와의 관계에 대한 연구

A Study for Relation Among Brain Computed Tomographic Finding, Serum Prolactin Concentration and Psychopathology in Chronic Schizophrenic Patients

This study was undertaken to know whether dopamine. as measured by plasma prolactine level, plays a role in the formation o f psychopathology in chornic schizophrenia, and whether structural change of brain contributes as biological marker to classify schizophrenia by subtypes. The subjects were 21 male patients who satisfied diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia in DSM- 111(1980), and did not take drugs for more than 2 weeks. Serum prolactin levels were measured and psychopathology by PA NSS were evaluated. Ventricular brain ratio(V B R ) on brain com puted tomography(CT) was measured after hospitalization. Enlarged ventricle was defined as the ventricle that was larger than mean plus 2SD of control group. The results were as follows : 1) The mean plasma prolactin level was 12.68士 11.72ng/ml in enlarged ventricle group and 11.51± 9.36ng/ml in normal ventricle group, respectively. According to mean of positive total score (PT), there was no significant difference between enlarged ventricle group (29.42 ± 5.22) and normal ventricle group (29.50± 5.21). At the same time, mean o f negative total score (N T ) was not different significantly between enlarged ventricle group (30.29± 6.73) and normal ventricle group (24.00± 8 .6 6 ). 2) In normal ventricle group, positive total score and excitement and hostility subscale were significantly correlated with serum prolactin level, but passive/apathetic social withdrawl subscale aniong negative symptom scales was inversely correlated with serum prolactin level. Conversely, any of PANSS scales were not correlated with serum prolactin levels in enlarged ventricle group. These findings lend further support to the hypothesis that dopaminergic dysfunction is correlated with the formation of positive symptom in normal ventricle group, and that ventricular size is a meaningful biological marker in subtyping schizophrenia