Barbara Grassi

CYTOKINES PRODUCTION IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS WITH OR WITHOUT PARANOID BEHAVIOUR

1. Several immunological abnormalities have been found in schizophrenia but their significance still remains largely unknown. In this study the authors analyzed mitogen-stimulated interleukin (IL)-2, Interferon gamma (IFN)-gamma and IL-10 (type 2 cytokine) production in a sample of 37 chronic schizophrenic patients as compared with a sample of 40 age and sex-matched controls with the aim to evaluate whether patients belonging to different diagnostic subtypes (i.e. paranoid patients vs non paranoid patients) could be immunologically different from each other. 2. The findings indicate that paranoid patients produce less IL-10 than the others and thus, from an immunological viewpoint, they are more similar to healthy controls. 3. Furthermore, neuroleptic medications were observed to differently affect IL-2 production; this preliminary finding might stimulate further studies aiming to get a link between different drug profile of action both in terms of clinical and receptorial profile and different immunological effects.

EEG power modifications in obsessive-compulsive disorder during olfactory stimulation

Temporal lobe electroencephalogram (EEG) activity was quantitatively analyzed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when subjects are at rest and during a temporal lobe activating procedure, i.e., olfactory stimulation. At rest with eyes closed, delta-1 and alpha-2 power differences were evident in OCD patients as compared with normal controls. During olfactory stimulation, differences between patients and normal groups were detectable in the slower beta frequencies: Normal subjects showed a power increase, whereas OCD patients showed no modification or slight decrease. Our results support previous findings of temporal lobe EEG abnormalities in OCD patients with an abnormal pattern of response to a temporal lobe activating procedure.

Clozapine lacks previous clinical efficacy when restarted after a period of discontinuation: A case series

No data are available in the literature about clozapine clinical efficacy when the drug is administered to schizophrenic patients who relapsed after discontinuation of long-term clozapine treatment and who had previously been responsive to the drug. In this study, three chronic schizophrenic patients are presented, who, in spite of a good clinical efficacy, decided to stop long-term clozapine treatment. Soon after their relapse they were again treated with clozapine: follow-up of these patients showed that clozapine partially lost its clinical efficacy since all three patients got worse compared with their initial clinical response.