Urban-Kowalczyk Małgorzata, Strzelecki Dominik, Śmigielski Janusz, Kotlicka-Antczak Magdalena
Department of Affective and Psychotic Disorders, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland,
State Higher Vocational School in Konin, Konin, Poland.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2019 Mar 5;15:647-654. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S192523. eCollection 2019.
The study evaluated olfactory performance and pleasantness rating of odors in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic schizophrenia (SCH) with regard to the severity of psychopathological symptoms and plasma β-endorphin concentration.
Twenty patients with FEP, 27 with SCH and 29 healthy individuals, were recruited to the research . The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), subjective odor hedonic judgment and plasma levels of β-endorphin (BE) assay were performed in all participants.
Individuals with SCH revealed higher BE concentration than other study groups (=0.000). All patients identified pleasant odors poorer than controls, however, SCH made more identification errors (=0.000) than those with FEP. Moreover, participants with FEP rated pleasant odors as more pleasant than individuals with chronic schizophrenia and healthy controls (=0.009). Nevertheless, higher β-endorphin level was related with lower scores in pleasant odor identification (Rs=-0.452; =0.046) and more severe psychotic symptoms in FEP sample. Chronic schizophrenia patients did not demonstrate any relationship between symptom severity, odor identification performance and β-endorphin concentration. No relationship was found between BE concentration and hedonic judgment of the presented odors among all study groups. Chronically ill subjects identified odors significantly more poorly than those with first episode psychosis. Deficits in identifying pleasant odors might not be the only potential risk factor for undergoing chronic, recurrent schizophrenia. All patients subjectively overrated pleasant odors. Those with SCH and more severe negative symptoms made significantly more identification errors.
The endogenous morphine system deregulation is observed in first episode psychosis as well as in chronic schizophrenia. In first episode schizophrenia higher beta-endorphin concentration is related to pleasant odor identification deficit.
本研究评估了首发精神病（FEP）患者和慢性精神分裂症（SCH）患者的嗅觉表现及气味愉悦度评分，以及精神病理症状的严重程度和血浆β-内啡肽浓度。
招募了20名FEP患者、27名SCH患者和29名健康个体参与本研究。所有参与者均进行了宾夕法尼亚大学嗅觉识别测试（UPSIT）、主观气味享乐判断以及β-内啡肽（BE）血浆水平检测。
SCH患者的BE浓度高于其他研究组（P = 0.
