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Skin melanin concentrations in the affective disorders: possible relationships to the catecholamine hypothesis1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

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

Synopsis

SYNOPSIS Skin melanin concentrations were measured by reflectance spectrophotometry in patients during the active phase of a primary affective illness and in normal subjects. There were no significant differences between 27 females with depression (unipolar illness) and 17 females with mania (bipolar illness) or between a mixed group of 30 male patients with mania and depression (predominantly mania) and a normal sample of 27 male subjects. These negative results are discussed in terms of the catecholamine hypothesis of the affective disorders. A study of brain pigmentation is suggested as being a potentially useful investigation in manic-depressive psychosis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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