Pharmacomanometric Studies of Colonic Motility as a Guide to the Chemotherapy of Schizophrenia

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Abstract
Distal colon motility studies performed in 41 psychotic subjects demonstrated that 32 of them had hyperactivity of the noradrenergic system at this peripheral level; the remaining 9 cases showed hyperactivity of the dopaminergic system. The noradrenergic-hyperactive patients fulfilled the Research Diagnostic Criteria of schizophrenia, but the dopaminergic-hyperactive patients were diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorders. Noradrenergic-hyperactive subjects were successfully treated with clonidine, a drug which inhibits release of noradrenaline [norepinephrine], while dopaminergic-hyperactive subjects were successfully treated with clonazepam, a drug which inhibits release of dopamine. The addition of sulpiride (a postsynaptic dopaminergic blocking agent) and of phentolamine (a postsynaptic noradrenergic blocking agent) to clonidine and clonazepam, respectively, induced significant improvements in both types of psychotic patients.