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Neurotransmitter metabolites in medicated epileptic patients
1Athens University Medical School, Psychiatric Clinic, Eginition Hospital, Greece.
Functional Neurology
|October 1, 1991
Abstract:
The serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline metabolites 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), homovanillic acid (HVA), and methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), were measured in urine of 38 male patients with idiopathic epilepsy on a single drug regime, and in 36 male healthy controls. Twenty patients were on carbamazepine and 18 on diphenylhydantoin. The concentrations of HVA and MHPG did not differ from normal, but 5-HIAA was significantly reduced in both patient groups. The reduced serotonin catabolism may be the result of a better utilisation of serotonin in the synapses, caused by the antiepileptic medication.