Studies on neurochemical heterogeneity in healthy parents of schizophrenic patients

Serum homovanillic acid (HVA), norepinephrine (NE), phenylalanine (Phe) and tyrosine (Tyr) have been examined in 80 healthy parents of schizophrenic patients and 26 normal control subject. Analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in serum HVA concentration among the three groups: the parents whose ill offspring became fairly well after neuroleptic treatment for more than three months (n = 33), those whose offspring were still actively ill after neuroleptic treatment (n = 33), and normal control subjects (F = 3.98, df = 2, 89, p 0.05). There was a significant difference between the serum NE concentrations of the parents of female patients (515 +/- 224 pg/ml, n = 21) and those of male patients (401 +/- 186 pg/ml, n = 55, p