Regional brain concentrations of neuropeptides in Huntington's chorea and schizophrenia

Abstract

To ascertain whether Huntington's chorea and schizophrenia are associated with specific regional alterations in neurotensin, somatostatin, and thyrotropin-releasing hormone, the concentrations of these putative neurotransmitters were measured by radioimmunoassay in postmortem brain samples from patients with Huntington's chorea or schizophrenia. Compared to 50 patients without psychiatric or neurological disease, the patients with Huntington's chorea showed significantly elevated concentrations of all three neuropeptides in the nucleus caudatus. In the nucleus accumbens somatostatin levels were increased threefold, while in the amygdala thyrotropin-releasing hormone levels were elevated. In contrast, the schizophrenics exhibited reduced levels of thyrotropin-releasing hormone in two frontal cortical regions, reduced somatostatin levels in one frontal cortical area, and increased neurotensin levels in one frontal cortical area. None of the differences between the diseased brains and the controls could be accounted for by differences in age, sex, or time between death and autopsy.