Brain Chemistry and Mental Disease : Proceedings of a Symposium on Brain Chemistry and Mental Disease held at the Texas Research Institute, Houston, Texas, November 18-20, 1970

This volume contains the proceedings of the fourth international symposium held in November 1970 at the Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences in Houston. Leading psychiatrists, biochemists, and pharmacologists from the United States and Great Britain presented new material and reviewed current concepts concerning schizophrenia and the affective disorders, with particular reference to the neurochemical basis of the etiology and chemotherapy of these diseases. Although the multiple mechanisms of mental disease are still not fully understood, substantial progress has definitely been made. The greatest contribution has come through the development of new therapeutic agents that not only provide invaluable help to the mentally ill but serve as chemical tools for studying the biological mechanisms associated with the disease state. Studies concerning the proposed catecholamine and indolealkylamine hypotheses for affective disorders and the possible formation of endogenous. toxins in schizophrenia have stimulated significant new research. This book presents new studies of schizophrenia and the affective disorders in one volume. It is our hope that it represents an effective integration of basic biochemical and pharmacological research with current clinical findings and that it will increase understanding of the etiology of mental disease and provide an impetus for the development of more effective therapeutic agents. We thank Drs. Gordon Farrell, Samuel Gershon, A. Horita, Irwin Kopin, and Joseph Schildkraut for their help with the organization of the meeting and for chairing the corresponding sessions. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-2 Multiple Forms of Monoamine Oxidase in Developing Tissues: The Implications for Mental Disorder....Pages 3-20 Regulation of Catecholamine Biosynthesis: Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Dihydropteridine Reductase....Pages 21-35 Behavioral, Metabolic, and Enzymatic Studies of a Brain Indoleethylamine N-Methylating System....Pages 37-60 Transmethylation Processes in Schizophrenia....Pages 61-71 Effects of Drugs on Catecholamine Synthesis....Pages 73-82 Pharmacological Implications of the Effects of Amphetamine and Its Analogs on the Turnover Rate of Tissue Catecholamines....Pages 83-96 Studies on the Mechanism of Action of 6-Methoxytetrahydro-β-Carboline in Elevating Brain Serotonin....Pages 97-112 Comparison of the Effects of Electrical Stimulation and Iontophoretic Dopamine on Neurons of the Nigro-Neostriatal Pathway....Pages 113-122 Biogenic Amines and Affective Disorders....Pages 123-133 Catecholamines and Affective Illness: Studies with L-DOPA and Alpha-Methyl-Para-Tyrosine....Pages 135-161 Relationships between Stress and Brain 5-Hydroxytryptamine and Their Possible Significance in Affective Disorders....Pages 163-176 Interactions between Adrenocortical Steroid Hormones, Electrolytes, and the Catecholamines....Pages 177-195 Thyroid-Imipramine Interaction: Clinical Results and Basic Mechanism....Pages 197-213 Effects of Tricyclic Antidepressants on Norepinephrine Metabolism: Basic and Clinical Studies....Pages 215-236 Overview....Pages 237-244 Discussion....Pages 245-263 Heterogeneous Distributions of Schizophrenia....Pages 265-274 Frequency of Genetic Polymorphism: Implications for Mental Disease....Pages 275-280 Purine Metabolism and Abnormal Behavior in Children....Pages 281-301 Chemotherapy of Schizophrenia....Pages 303-317 Chemotherapy of Manic-Depressive Disorder....Pages 319-377 Chemotherapy of Depression....Pages 379-402 Back Matter....Pages 403-411