Acid monoamine metabolites in human cerebrospinal fluid and their relations to age and sex

Abstract

Age and sex in relation to the concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid were studied in three groups of subjects, one of healthy old volunteers, one of healthy young volunteers and one of middle-aged chronic schizophrenic patients. There was no difference in the concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid between age-matched pairs of healthy persons and schizophrenic patients, nor was there any difference between the concentrations of these acids in different sex groups. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between age and both 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid. Over the age of 50 some of the subjects began to have higher values and in the group of healthy old volunteers over the age of 70 there was a significantly higher mean value of the acids in comparison with that of the younger control groups. The range of distribution of values was also significantly higher in the group of healthy old volunteers.