Serum and cerebrospinal fluid prolactin patterns during neuroleptic treatment in schizophrenic patients

Serum and CSF prolactin (PRL) concentrations were determined during eight weeks of fluphenazine medication in 28 patients with acute symptoms of schizophrenia. In both sexes a good correlation between the serum and CSF PRL values was found (r = 0.57, p less than 0.01). Throughout the entire study, first admission (FA) patients had significantly higher levels of serum and CSF PRL than the re-entry (RE) schizophrenics (0.05 greater than p less than 0.001). In addition, in FA patients, a gradual increase of the serum and CSF PRL concentrations was observed, whereas in the RE group an adaptive secretion pattern of PRL could be detected. In both patient groups, female patients exhibited significantly higher PRL serum and CSF levels than the male patients (0.05 greater than p less than 0.001). The tolerance phenomenon in the RE groups was more marked in the female than in the male patients. No correlation between clinical outcome and PRL response to fluphenazine treatment was observed. The prognostic significance of the differences in the PRL secretion pattern is discussed.