CSF somatostatin in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: Because the central administration of somatostatin to experimental animals produces behaviors with some similarities to the compulsions of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and because serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been reported to reduce brain content of somatostatin, the authors examined central somatostatin activity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. METHOD: CSF for measurement of somatostatin was obtained from 15 drug-free outpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and 27 normal volunteers. RESULTS: The mean CSF somatostatin level was significantly higher in the patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder than in the normal subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Although the functional significance of this finding is unknown, these data are consistent with a role for somatostatin in the clinical symptomatology of obsessive-compulsive disorder and its response to neuropharmacological agents. The high levels of CSF somatostatin reported here in a patient subgroup whose predominant symptoms consisted of overly focused, perseverative thought processes are in contrast to the consistently low levels of CSF somatostatin seen in patients with a spectrum of disorders characterized by substantial cognitive deficits.

publication date

  • March 1, 1993

Research

keywords

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Somatostatin

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0027418881

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1176/ajp.150.3.460

PubMed ID

  • 8094599

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 150

issue

  • 3