N1-methylnicotinamide excretion and affective disorders
- 1 May 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Psychological Medicine
- Vol. 6 (2) , 265-270
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291700013817
Abstract
Synopsis: N1-Methylnicotinamide urinary output is examined in 38 healthy volunteers, 52 patients with secondary affective disorders (SAD), 55 patients with primary affective disorders (PAD) and 46 healthy first-degree relatives of PAD patients. The results indicate (1) that in PAD patients and their first-degree relatives the frequency of low Nl-MN excretion was significantly higher (p < 0001) than in healthy controls and in patients with secondary affective disorders, and (2) that PAD patients have a consistently low N1-MN output, at all times constant and independent of the clinical phases of the disease. These findings provide evidence that the low N1-MN levels may represent an index of a biological background linked to a high morbidity risk for primary affective disorders. The theoretical implications deriving from these data are briefly discussed.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Tryptophan Metabolism in Affective PsychosesThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1966