Increased PLA activity in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis.

Phospholipase A is the main enzyme in the metabolism of membrane phospholipids. It comprises a family of enzymes divided into iPLA, cPLA and sPLA. Studies have reported increased PLA activity in psychotic patients, which suggests an accelerated breakdown of membrane phospholipids. In the present study we investigated whether increased PLA activity is also present in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. One-hundred fifty adults were included in this study (85 UHR and 65 controls). UHR was assessed using the "structured interview for prodromal syndromes". PLA activity was determined in platelets by a radio-enzymatic assay. We found in UHR individuals increased activities of iPLA (p < 0.001) and cPLA (p = 0.012) as compared to controls. No correlations were found between socio-demographic and clinical parameters and PLA activity. Our findings suggest that increased PLA activities may be useful as a biological risk-marker for psychotic disorders.