Trace elements in brains of patients with alcohol abuse, endogeneous psychosis and schizophrenia

The concentrations of Co, Fe, Rb, Se and Zn were analysed, by means of neutron activation analysis, in the brains of three patients with alcohol abuse, of one patient with endogeneous psychosis and of one patient with schizophrenia. The patients with alcohol abuse suffered from the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. The data were compared with results from brains which were not diseased ("normals"). Patients with alcohol abuse had diminished values of rubidium in nearly all analysed samples of cerebral nuclei (greater than 30% compared to normals), whereas the Rb values were normal or diminished in cortical regions. The cobalt values were reduced (greater than 20%) in eight out of 14 nuclei and in five out of nine cortical regions. Differences in the Fe and Se values were mainly located in the cerebral nuclei. In the caudate nucleus the patient with endogeneous psychosis had highly significant elevated values of all analysed elements. The element concentrations of the patient with schizophrenia did not significantly differ from those of normal controls. The loss of nearly all elements was conspicuous in those regions which show neuro-pathological cell degeneration or atrophy in the case of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. This loss of element concentrations in patients with alcohol abuse is interpreted as a loss of cellular vitality.