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The effect of haloperidol on the urinary excretion of dopamine, homovanillic and vanilmandelic acids in schizophrenics

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Summary

Eight schizophrenics were treated with large doses of haloperidol for 18 days. Dopamine (DA), homovanillic acid (HVA) and vanilmandelic acid (VMA) were determined on 24-hours urine samples. Eighteen determinations of these substances were performed for every patient (4 in the basal period, 9 in the treatment period, and 5 in the post-treatment period).

Haloperidol was found to produce a significant increase of HVA and a slight elevation of DA, which reached a significant level only in the post-treatment period. VMA showed no significant variation. The increase of HVA and DA excretion was found to be related to extra-pyramidal akinetic-hypertonic side-effects but not to hyperkinetic-dyskinetic signs. No strict relationship was observed between HVA and DA variations and therapeutic effects.

On the basis of our results, it was inferred that large doses of haloperidol probably produce a decrease of DA content in basal ganglia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Provincial Psychiatric Institute of Milan, Italy

    A. Bruno & A. Allegranza

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  1. A. Bruno
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  2. A. Allegranza
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Chief of the Department of Neuropathology.

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Bruno, A., Allegranza, A. The effect of haloperidol on the urinary excretion of dopamine, homovanillic and vanilmandelic acids in schizophrenics. Psychopharmacologia 8, 60–66 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00405361

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00405361

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