Table 3.
Effects of khat chewing and paranoid schizophrenia on plasma levels of dopamine and its related metabolites (DOPAC and HVA), in comparison with healthy non-khat-chewer subjects
| Variables | Healthy subjects (n=37)
|
Schizophrenic subjects (n=42)
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HNKc (n=20) | HKc (n=17) | SNKc (n=21)
|
SKc (n=21)
|
|||
| SNKch (10 mg/day) (n=10) | SNKcr (5 mg/day) (n=11) | SKch (10 mg/day) (n=10) | SKcr (5 mg/day) (n=11) | |||
| Dopamine (pg/mL) | 24.30±0.63 | 50.5±1.24*** | 23.2±1.11 | 19.82±0.48▼ | 61.3±1.25***,⋄⋄⋄ | 57.0±0.93***,⋄⋄⋄ |
| DOPAC (ng/mL) | 3.0±0.10 | 2.46±0.15** | 2.03±0.05▼▼▼ | 2.97±0.07 | 1.48±0.05*,⋄⋄⋄ | 1.65±0.08***,⋄⋄⋄ |
| HVA (ng/mL) | 9.29±0.17 | 12.56±0.31*** | 10.05±0.39 | 9.72±0.10 | 19.25±0.23***,⋄⋄⋄ | 17.3±0.19***,⋄⋄⋄ |
Notes: Each value represents as mean ± SEM.
*
For comparison between khat-chewers and non-chewers between groups and within groups,
▼
for comparison between SNKch or SNKcr and HNKc, and
⋄
for comparison between SKch or SKcr and HKc. Note that mostly rest of all other comparisons were significant.
*,▼
P<0.05;
**
P<0.01;
***,▼▼▼,⋄⋄⋄
P<0.001.
Abbreviations: S, schizophrenic; K, khat; c, chewing; N, non; r, risperidone; h, haloperidol; DOPAC, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid; HVA, homovanillic acid; SEM, standard error of the mean.