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Tritiated Etorphine and Naloxone Binding to Opioid Receptors in Caudate Nucleus in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

F. Owen*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
R. C. Bourne
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
M. Poulter
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
T. J. Crow
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, Clinical Research Centre, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
S. J. Paterson
Affiliation:
Unit for Research of Addictive Drugs, Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
H. W. Kosterlitz
Affiliation:
Unit for Research of Addictive Drugs, Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
*
Correspondence.

Summary

Opioid receptor binding sites were assessed in membrane preparations of caudate nucleus from post-mortem brains of controls and of patients with schizophrenia. There was no difference between the two groups in the total specific binding of 3H-etorphine or in its ‘μ’ and (‘δ+χ’) components. Similarly, the binding of 3H-naloxone did not differ between patients and controls. It is concluded that a previous report of reduced opioid receptors in caudate of schizophrenics is unlikely to prove a consistent finding and that the results of the present study offer no support to the claim that there is a general disturbance in opiate mechanisms in schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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