Disruption of Myofibrils in the Skeletal Muscle of Psychotic Patients

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Abstract
PREVIOUS studies from this laboratory1-3have demonstrated that an elevation of serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK, EC 2.7.3.2), of the muscle isozymic type, is found in approximately 60% of acutely psychotic patients at the onset of the acute psychotic episode. Evidence obtained by histochemical techniques4revealed an abnormality of skeletal muscle in 44 of 64 acutely psychotic subjects. The histochemical pattern in these abnormal rasults of muscle biopsies was suggestive of a myopathic disorder.4In this report, light and electron microscopic evidence is presented to indicate that substantial disruptive changes of the myofibrils occur in almost 40% of these psychotic patients, and these focal myofibrillar changes are compatible with a degenerative alteration of the muscle cell. Methods Subjects.— Skeletal muscle was obtained from a total of 83 human subjects. Ten of these subjects were normal controls; they had normal serum CPK activities, had no personal or family history