Erythrocyte ITP pyrophosphohydrolase deficiency in a psychiatric population.

A higher incidence of erythrocyte ITP pyrophosphohydrolase deficiency was found among a psychiatric population when compared to a nonpsychiatric group of subjects. Although the incidence was highest among schizophrenics, particularly those diagnosed as paranoid, the majority of the patients did not show such deficiency. The parallelisms between ITP pyrophosphohydrolase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase deficiencies, both characterized by the lack of availability of IMP, and correlated to behavioral disorders, suggest that irregularities of hypoxanthine nucleotides may be implicated in abnormal mental processes.