Abstract
REPORTS of the occurrence of 3,4-dimethoxyphenylethylamine (DMPE) in the urine of schizophrenic patients are attracting increasing attention1,2, although some of the chromatographic procedures used to detect this amine have been criticized as being insufficiently definitive. This communication reports an investigation in which, using two-way thin-layer chromatography, we have failed to detect urinary DMPE in any of twenty-two schizophrenic patients. In seventeen of the patients the illness was of recent acute onset, the remaining five having been ill for several years. Of the seventeen acute cases, fourteen had received no previous medication at all for their condition, while the other three had been treated with barbiturates only. None of the five chronically ill patients had received drug therapy for at least 3 years. No dietary restrictions were imposed.
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WILLIAMS, C., GIBSON, J. & MCCORMICK, W. 3,4-Dimethoxyphenylethylamine in Schizophrenia. Nature 211, 1195 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2111195a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2111195a0
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