Prostaglandin Receptor Sensitivity in Psychiatric Disorders

• The cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) responses to prostaglandin E 1 (PGE , ) in platelets and leukocytes from drug-free schizophrenic patients, depressive patients, and normal controls have been compared. Both schizophrenic and depressive patients had a significantly lower platelet cAMP response to PGE 1 than controls. The platelet cAMP response to PGE, did not discriminate among exacerbated, remitted, and poor-prognosis schizophrenic patients, or between exacerbated and remitted depressive patients. The cAMP response to PGE 1 was negatively correlated with global symptom severity in actively ill schizophrenic patients, but was not correlated with symptom severity in exacerbated depressive patients. The leukocyte cAMP response to PGE 1 did not differ among normal controls, schizophrenic patients, and depressive patients. These data indicate that a diminished platelet cAMP response to PGE 1 may be a marker common to both schizophrenia and depression but that this effect does not extend to a cAMP-linked PGE 1 receptor on another blood cell type.