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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
Ashley H. Robins
Affiliation:
From the Department of Psychiatry, Johannesburg Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
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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
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 1972 , pp. 391 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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