Schizophrenia as an immunologic disorder. 3. Effects of antimonkey and antihuman brain antibody on brain function.

Abstract

OBSERVATIONS in our laboratories that sera of schizophrenic patients contain a unique globulin (probably antibody) capable of attachment to specific sites of the brain (antigen) support our postulate that schizophrenia is an immunologic disorder. 1-3 The findings, however, do not establish a causeand-effect relation between the globulin and clinical symptoms of the disease. We have injected serum globulins of schizophrenic patients, normal healthy control subjects, and control subjects with diseases other than schizophrenia into the ventricles of rhesus monkeys prepared with depth and cortical electrodes and intraventricular cannulas. 3-5 Abnormal electroencephalograms (EEG) from the septal region and basal caudate nucleus with concomitant abnormal behavior were induced consistently by serum globulins of acute schizophrenic patients, and sometimes by globulins of chronic schizophrenic patients. Similar aberrations followed intravenous injection of the serum globulins. Fluorescent antibody techniques showed that the brains of the monkey