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Plasma dopamine Β hydroxylase activity in affective disorders

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Abstract

Plasma dopamine Β hydroxylase (DBH) activity was measured in patients with affective disorders and in their relatives. The groups studied had wide distributions of values for plasma DBH activity. No significant difference of plasma DBH activity was found between unipolar and bipolar patients, nor between patients given lithium or placebo. Exercise on a treadmill at 40‡ or 10‡ C elicited a different pattern of response for plasma DBH activity in 3 patients as compared to control subjects. In familial studies we found the values of plasma DBH activity to be almost identical in monozygotic twin pairs and quite similar in dizygotic twin pairs. All pairs, however, were discordant for affective illness. There was also a marked similarity of plasma DBH activity in 15 pairs of same sex sibs discordant for affective illness, These studies suggest that the resting level of plasma DBH activity is not related to affective illness but is genetically determined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, USA

    Morton Levitt, David L. Dunner, Julian Mendlewicz, William Lawlor, Joseph L. Fleiss, Frank Stallone & Ronald R. Fieve

  2. University of Adelaide, South Australia

    Derek B. Frewin

Authors
  1. Morton Levitt
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  2. David L. Dunner
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  3. Julian Mendlewicz
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  4. Derek B. Frewin
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  5. William Lawlor
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  6. Joseph L. Fleiss
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  7. Frank Stallone
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  8. Ronald R. Fieve
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Additional information

A preliminary report of a portion of this work was presented [J. Pharmacol 5, Suppl. I, 123 (1974)].

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Levitt, M., Dunner, D.L., Mendlewicz, J. et al. Plasma dopamine Β hydroxylase activity in affective disorders. Psychopharmacologia 46, 205–210 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421393

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421393

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