Ultracentrifugal Serum Proteins in Schizophrenia

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Abstract
A NUMBER of investigators have reported serum protein abnormalities in patients with functional mental illnesses. The lack of consistency among such reports has been noted by several reviewers1,2 and need not be documented here. Renewed interest in the problem has been generated by Fessel's reports of significantly elevated S19 macroglobulin levels in mentally disturbed patients2-4 and the observation by Kurland and Fessel of a relationship between changes in S19 levels and changes in clinical condition.5 These findings are of obvious importance and would seem to bear substantiation. The present report pools data from two essentially independent studies of ultracentrifugal serum proteins in schizophrenic patients. Serum protein data obtained from schizophrenic and control donors were analyzed to provide evidence relevant to three questions: (1) Do ultracentrifugal serum protein values for schizophrenic patients differ significantly from those of normal subjects? (2) Is there a significant