Olanzapine-induced weight gain is associated with the -759C/T and -697G/C polymorphisms of the HTR2C gene.

Weight gain, a serious problem associated with some antipsychotic drugs, notably olanzapine and clozapine, was suggested to be associated with -759C/T polymorphism of the 5-HT2C receptor gene. This study aimed to examine a potential association of two functional polymorphisms of the promoter region of this gene: -759C/T (rs3813929) and -697G/C (rs518147), with weight gain after 6 weeks of olanzapine monotherapy. It included 107 patients with schizophrenia; among them 36 are first-episode drug-naive patients. Analysis was carried out by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. A protective effect of -759T and -697C alleles was found: significantly less patients with -697C (3/51) and no patient with -759T (0/28) alleles experienced body mass index increase >or=10% (P=0.0006 and 0.002, respectively). The same was true for drug-naive patients possessing any of the variant alleles. There was a significant association of haplotypes with a >or=10% body mass index increase (P=0.001). On the basis of the additional statistical analysis, the more important role of -697C allele was suggested.

[Electroconvulsive therapy in schizophrenia]. / Leczenie elektrowstrzasowe w schizofrenii.

The author presents the actual state of knowledge about the mechanism of action of ECT with schizophrenia. An analysis of literature indicates that controversy about the role of ECT in the treatment of schizophrenia doesn't stop.

[Comparative research on some clinical and psychopharmacological parameters of reactive paranoid psychoses]. / Badania porównawcze niektórych parametrów klinicznych i psychofarmakologicznych psychoz paranoidalnych reaktywnych.

10 patients suffering from reactive psychoses were treated in a standardized manner with pernazine. The dynamic of the clinical picture as well as the behaviour of prolactin levels and the activity of DBH in blood plasma were assessed.

[Comparative studies of various clinical and psychopharmacological parameters of schizoaffective psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia]. / Badania porównawcze niektórych parametrów klinicznych i psychofarmakologicznych psychozy schizoafektwnej i schizofrenii paranoidalnej.

Two groups of male patients were investigated: 19 subjects with diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and 13 with schizoaffective psychosis (8 with both depressive and paranoid symptoms, 5 with manic and paranoid). All patients were treated with perazine in this same manner. During the consecutive stages of therapy the following parameters were examined and compared: clinical symptoms, DBH activity, plasma prolactin concentration and the simple reaction time task to auditory and visual stimuli. The noticeable changes, similarities and differences were described.

Clinical and pharmacological approach to the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

The aim of the study was finding out the correlations between some clinical and biological variables in paranoid schizophrenia. The group of 16 patients with paranoid schizophrenia, chosen in careful diagnostic procedure was treated with perazine during 4 weeks time. Before and during the treatment, the following parameters: psychopathology, serum perazine and prolactin concentration, dopamine-beta-hydroxylase activity and simple reaction time were measured. We found changes of those parameters caused by the treatment. The simple reaction time retardation was side-dependent before the treatment and not side-dependent after the treatment.