Vitamin E, lipids, and lipid peroxidation products in tardive dyskinesia

Lipid peroxidation has been postulated as a possible mechanism for neuronal damage in tardive dyskinesia, and this is supported by evidence of increased lipid peroxidation products in the cerebrospinal fluid of dyskinetic subjects.

In this study plasma levels of vitamin E and vitamin A, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, and of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), were determined in 16 schizophrenic patients with tardive dyskinesia, 16 nondyskinetic patients all assessed by Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS), and 10 normal control subjects. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride were also measured throughout. Vitamin E levels in plasma were corrected for total lipids.

Multivariate analysis of covariance showed significant differences when vitamin E and TBARS were compared in the three groups. Univariate t tests showed a significantly lower lipid-corrected vitamin E (p = .018) between the normal and dyskinetic group but not between the normal and the nondyskinetic schizophrenic patients. There was no difference in vitamin A levels between patients and normal controls. TBAR results showed a significant positive correlation between AIMS score and lipid-corrected TBARS.

This study confirms an abnormality associating lipid peroxidation and tardive dyskinesia and extends this abnormality to measurements of lipid-corrected vitamin E in plasma.