The British Journal of Psychiatry 142: 43-46 (1983)
© 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
An inverse correlation between spontaneous eye-blink rate and platelet monoamine oxidase activity
CN Karson, JE Kleinman, KF Berman, BH Phelps, CD Wise, LE DeLisi and DV Jeste
An inverse correlation between platelet monoamine oxidase activity and
spontaneous eye-blink rate, a putative measure of central dopaminergic
activity, was found in medication-free chronic schizophrenic patients
without tardive dyskinesia (n = 20, rs = -.47, P less than .025). A similar
correlation was found when patients with tardive dyskinesia were included
but was weaker (n = 27, rs = -.35, P less than .05). Normal controls and
patients with tardive dyskinesia did not demonstrate this relationship.
This report confirms a previous finding of a significant platelet monoamine
oxidase-blink rate correlation in chronic schizophrenic patients. Insofar
as this relationship is mediated by dopamine, it suggests that dopaminergic
relations are more readily demonstrated in schizophrenic subjects than
normals. Moreover, tardive dyskinesia appears to obscure this dopaminergic
relationship.