Psychosomatic Medicine 19:320-325 (1957)
© 1957 American Psychosomatic Society

Excretion of Hippuric Acid in Schizophrenic and Depressive Patients after E.C.T

¹ Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham, England
² Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham, England; Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wis.

Hippuric acid excretion was investigated in 20 schizophrenic and 15 depressive patients before and after E.C.T.

Decreased excretion of hippuric acid was found in both groups before E.C.T. and this treatment rectified the defect in both groups to a comparable degree.

Short-acting correction of the deficient hippuric acid excretion could also be achieved by giving glycine at the same time as the sodium benzoate for the excretion test. This level of synthesis was not further improved by E.C.T.

The fundamental metabolic disturbance expressed in our test measurements appeared to be of a similar nature in both groups of patients and to run parallel with states of severe withdrawal and psychomotor retardation. It did not seem to be important whether this state of withdrawal was part of a schizophrenic or of a depressive process.

A possible pathway for the mechanism of the effect of E.C.T. has been discussed and the implications of these findings in relation to similar findings under physiological conditions have been considered.