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Skin Melanin Concentrations in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ashley H. Robins
Ashley H. Robins*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Johannesburg Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Extract

Greiner and Nicolson (1965) put forward the hypothesis that schizophrenia was associated with a state of increased melanogenesis which they attributed to a biochemical defect in the pineal gland. Isolated literature reports had documented the occurrence of hyperpigmentation in schizophrenia. These observations might be relevant, as the neurone and melanocyte have common features: both are ultimately derived from the neural plate; both require tyrosine as precursor in the biosynthesis of their specific products (catecholamines and melanin respectively); and many neurocutaneous diseases show coexistent neuropsychiatric and pigmentary disorder.

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Type
Abstracts
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 121 , Issue 565 , December 1972 , pp. 613 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1972 

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References

Greiner, A. G., and Nicolson, G. A. (1965). ‘Schizo-phrenia-melanosis: cause or side-effect?’ Lancet, ii, 1165–7.Google Scholar
Lerner, A. B., and Fitzpatrick, T. B. (1950). ‘Biochemistry of melanin formation.’ Physiol. Rev., 30, 91–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, A. H. (1970). Part of an M.D. Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Google Scholar
Weiner, J. S., and Lourie, J. A. (1969). ‘Skin colour measurement by spectrophotometry’, in Human Biology: A Guide to Field Methods, pp. 155–62. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
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