Owen F, Bourne R C, Poulter M, Crow T J, Paterson S J, Kosterlitz H W
Br J Psychiatry. 1985 May;146:507-9. doi: 10.1192/bjp.146.5.507.
Opioid receptor binding sites were assessed in membrane preparations of caudate nucleus from post-mortem brains of controls and of patients with schizophrenia. There was no difference between the two groups in the total specific binding of 3H-etorphine or in its 'mu' and ('delta + kappa') components. Similarly, the binding of 3H-naloxone did not differ between patients and controls. It is concluded that a previous report of reduced opioid receptors in caudate of schizophrenics is unlikely to prove a consistent finding and that the results of the present study offer no support to the claim that there is a general disturbance in opiate mechanisms in schizophrenia.
