Schizophrenia: elevated cerebrospinal fluid norepinephrine.

Concentrations of norepinephrine in cerebrospinal fluid are higher in schizophrenic patients, particularly in those with paranoid features, than in normal volunteer subjects of the same age. This observation supports recent reports of elevated concentrations of norepinephrine in specific brain areas adjacent to the cerebral ventricles of paranoid schizophrenic patients. Overflow of the amine from periventricular regions into the cerebrospinal fluid may reflect abnormally high release or diminished enzymatic destruction of norepinephrine in patients with schizophrenia.