Youssef H A, Waddington J L
St. Davnet's Hospital, Monaghan, Ireland.
Biol Psychiatry. 1988 Apr 15;23(8):791-6. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(88)90067-4.
Primitive (developmental) reflexes are present in fetal and infant life, but disappear in adulthood. Their elicitation in later life usually occurs in association with cortical or diffuse cerebral dysfunction and suggests a new approach to the issue of whether tardive dyskinesia is particularly likely to occur in patients with organic brain disorder(s). Sixty-six patients with schizophrenia (age range 50-86) and 18 with bipolar affective disorder (age range 40-77) were assessed for the presence of involuntary movements and for the release of the grasp, palmomental, snout, corneomandibular, and glabellar reflexes. In each diagnostic group, patients with involuntary movements showed a significant excess of primitive reflexes in comparison with otherwise indistinguishable patients without such movements. These results complement recent reports that similar patients with involuntary movements also show greater cognitive impairment and point anew to an association between the presence of tardive dyskinesia and of organic brain dysfunction. They raise again the issue of whether or not such dysfunction may be a consequence of neurodevelopmental abnormality rather than of neurodegenerative processes.
原始（发育性）反射在胎儿期和婴儿期存在，但在成年期消失。在成年后引出这些反射通常与皮质或弥漫性脑功能障碍有关，并提示了一种新的方法来探讨迟发性运动障碍是否特别容易发生在患有器质性脑疾病的患者中。对66名精神分裂症患者（年龄范围50 - 86岁）和18名双相情感障碍患者（年龄范围40 - 77岁）进行了评估，以确定是否存在不自主运动以及是否出现抓握反射、掌颏反射、噘嘴反射、角膜下颌反射和眉间反射。在每个诊断组中，与没有此类运动的其他难以区分的患者相比，有不自主运动的患者出现原始反射的比例显著更高。这些结果补充了最近的报告，即类似的有不自主运动的患者也表现出更大的认知障碍，并再次表明迟发性运动障碍的存在与器质性脑功能障碍之间存在关联。它们再次提出了这样的功能障碍是否可能是神经发育异常而非神经退行性过程的结果这一问题。
