The British Journal of Psychiatry 141: 273-281 (1982)
© 1982 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Impairment of the blood-brain barrier as an aetiological factor in paranoid psychosis
R Axelsson, E Martensson and C Alling
Possible psychiatric implications of impairment of the blood-brain barrier
were studied in 25 patients with paranoid psychosis. Determination of the
ratio between the albumin concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid and serum
showed increased, indicating impairment of the blood-brain barrier, in
seven patients and normal values in 18. The two groups were compared for
clinical, pharmacokinetic, neurophysiological and anamnestic variables. The
highly significant finding that onset of psychosis had occurred, on
average, 20 years earlier in the patients with impairment of the
blood-brain barrier than in those without suggests that such impairment
might influence the development of psychosis in predisposed individuals.