Reduced D-serine to total serine ratio in the cerebrospinal fluid of drug naive schizophrenic patients

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;29(5):767-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2005.04.023.

Abstract

Several lines of evidence suggest that D-serine, an endogenous agonist of the glycine site on the NMDA receptors, might play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether levels of D- and L-serine or D-serine ratio (D-serine/total serine) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were altered in first episode and drug-naive schizophrenic patients. The CSF levels of D- and L-serine in 25 male first episode and drug-naive schizophrenic patients and 17 age-matched male healthy subjects were measured using a column-switching high performance liquid chromatography system. The percentage of D-serine in the total serine of patients was significantly (z = -2.01, p = 0.044) lower than that of controls. This study suggests that synthetic or metabolic pathways of D-serine may be abnormal in the brain of drug-naive schizophrenic patients, supporting the NMDA receptor dysfunction hypothesis of schizophrenia.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / metabolism
  • Schizophrenia / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Serine / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Stereoisomerism

Substances

  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • Serine