Sex Differences in Plasma Homovanillic Acid in Acute Psychosis

Abstract
To the Editor: A theory implicating dopamine in psychosis and antipsychotic drug action has received a substantial amount of attention in recent years.1 , 2 Measurements in cerebrospinal fluid have generally failed to provide definitive evidence for a group of psychotic patients or for a specific symptom complex in psychotic disorders that is associated with an increase in the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in cerebrospinal fluid. Since measurements in cerebrospinal fluid have limitations in clinical settings, we have assayed fasting plasma HVA in 22 patients (10 men and boys, 16 to 27 years of age, and 12 women and girls, . . .