Serum Copper and Oxidase Activity in Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

The possibility that the metabolism of epinephrine and of other amines may be altered in schizophrenia, the observation that plasma copper is increased during chlorpromazine therapy,¹and the knowledge that ceruloplasmin, a copper-protein in serum which varies with stress situations, can oxidize epinephrine have stimulated research on copper in serum of mental patients. A recent claim by Akerfeldt²that the fresh blood serum from mental patients had the capacity to oxidize N, N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine more rapidly than fresh serum from healthy control subjects, and that this increased oxidizing activity of serum from mental cases was probably due to an increase in ceruloplasmin in the serum of mental patients makes it pertinent to review the factors which affect this and related reactions. Except for a marked decrease in ceruloplasmin in serum of patients with hepatolenticular degeneration and in some patients with the nephrotic syndrome, the blood levels of