Circulating and cerebrospinal fluid catecholamines in asthenic neorosis.

The behaviour of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood catecholamines (CA) was investigated in 18 cases (men and women in equal number) suffering from asthenic neurosis. The values of the total CA both in the CSF and in blood did not show significant statistic variations as compared to normal subjects, and yet, both in the CSF and in blood a modification of the values of the CA fractions - adrenaline (A) and noradrenaline (NA) - was noticed, even more visible in the CSF, i.e. a decrease of the absolute values of NA and an increase of the absolute values of A, determining an important increase of the adrenaline percentage (A%) values from the total CA which, from 23% (in normal subjects) reached 52% in the blood and 63% in the CSF in the case of asthenic neurosis.