EFFECT OF PHLORHIZIN ON EXCRETION OF INORGANIC PHOSPHATE IN PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS

FOR OVER a century increased urinary excretion of phosphate has been reported in some patients with manic-depressive, involutional, or schizophrenic psychoses; the mechanism of this change has not been established. Increases in reabsorption of phosphate by renal tubules following injection of phlorhizin has been described by Pitts and Alexander. 1 It was considered desirable to study the effects of phlorhizin in psychotic patients in order to ascertain whether the renal tubular reabsorption of phosphate is affected in a normal fashion by that substance. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixteen experiments were performed on nine patients with manic-depressive, involutional, or schizophrenic psychoses. Six of the patients were women; the ages of the entire series ranged from 21 to 64. An additional experiment was performed on one of the schizophrenic patients when his phosphate excretion rose markedly at the onset of a viral infection. The patients were studied while at rest and in the