CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Biochemical markers were studied in 34 psychotic patients compared to controls, e.g., dosage of platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) and serum amine oxidase (AO), transmethylation activity, and dosage of the urinary N,N-dimethylindolealkylamines, bufotenine and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Neuropsychological tests were simultaneously performed to evaluate psychometric parameters in the same subjects under study. Urinary levels of DMT and bufotenine were evaluated by gas chromatography-massdetecspectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography. The enzymes were dosed by spectrofluorimetricmethods. Relationships were established between the statistically significant values of urinary bufotenine and platelet MAO, and of urinary DMT and both platelet MAO and serum AO. The statistically significant values of platelet MAO and those of transmethylation activity were satisfactorily correlated, thus achieving the 91.1% categorization of the 34 subjects in four main types. The sharp decrease in platelet MAO was in agreement with the increase in bufotenine and DMT, and with the perceptual alteration observed in neuropsychological tests. The decrease in serum AO was moderate, but consistent with the transmethylating activity registered. The results support the pathologic transmethylation theory of schizophrenia, and show that these N,N-methylated indolealkylamines are state markers for these pathologies.