Zinc and copper in patients with schizophrenia.

Patients with acute and chronic schizophrenia, on or off treatment with various major tranquillizers, did not show any significant deviation from normal in concentrations of zinc or copper in serum, urine, or gastric fluid, in serum ceruloplasmin or in hair zinc. Although depletion of body zinc and increases in brain copper have been previously associated with severe changes in mentation and personality, there are at present no published, controlled clinical studies which support the hypothesis that administration of exogenous zinc and/or depletion of body copper is useful in the treatment of schizophrenia.