Immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA and IgM) Profiles in Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the serum immunoglobulin concentration in both schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals. The study was conducted with 30 (thirty) schizophrenic patients (24 males and 6 females, aged 55.4±13.0 years); age and gender-matched, control subjects were enrolled. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was employed to analyze the serum immunoglobulin concentrations. Results showed that the concentrations of serum IgG, IgM and IgA were not changed significantly than that of the cohort controls. The IgG level was found to be 15.23 ± 3.82 g/l (p = 0.341) in the schizophrenic patients, while it was 14.36 ± 3.37 g/l in the cohort controls. IgM and IgA concentrations were 6.19 ± 2.36 g/l (p = 0.861) and 4.85 ± 1.70 g/l (p = 0.362) in the schizophrenic patients, whereas those were 6.00 ± 2.05 g/l and 4.48 ± 1.39 g/l, respectively, in healthy volunteers. In many psychiatric disorders, immunoglobulin levels changed significantly and have been used as a tool for the preliminary diagnosis of those diseases. The study concludes that serum immunoglobulin levels in schizophrenic patients may not be useful as a diagnostic tool for the identification of this disorder. Key words: Immunoglobulin, Schizophrenia, Psychiatry Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. Vol.4(1) 2005 The full text is of this article is available at the Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. website