Projection of an endocoid involved with schizophrenic reaction.

Administration of 3,4-dimethoxyphenylethylamine, (DMPEA) which has been incubated with blood plasma from unmedicated, acute schizophrenics, to aggregated mice pretreated with the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, phenylisobutylhydrazine, has been shown to produce an amphetamine-like excitatory, lethal response in such mice. Use of blood plasma from 92 unmedicated, acute schizophrenics in the test system giving that response yielded 82 positive responses (89%) and 10 negative responses (11%). Substitution of the blood plasmas from 94 non-schizophrenics analogously into this test system produced 2 positive responses (2%) and 92 negative responses (98%). When plasma from schizophrenics medicated with antipsychotic tranquilizers were tested in the system, none gave positive response, 58 gave negative response. If the compound bis-N, N dimethoxyphenylethylamine (bis-DMPEA) was either added to DMPEA or substituted for it and incubated with inactive blood plasma taken from non-schizophrenics in the incubation step of the test system a marked positive response was elicited. The results obtained are compatible with a hypothesis which postulates function of a DMPEA metabolite as a pathologic endocoid in schizophrenic reaction.