NEUROENDOCRINE RESPONSIVITY TO CLOMIPRAMINE CHALLENGE TEST IN NEUROLEPTIC NAIVE PSYCHOTIC-PATIENTS BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT WITH HALOPERIDOL

The prolactin, cortisol and growth hormone (GH) responses to intraveno us administration of 25 mg clomipramine (CMI) were studied in young ma le psychotic patients who had never received neuroleptics and suffered from schizophrenia (13 patients), delusional disorder (three patients ) or schizoaffective disorder (one patient). The test was repeated aft er 1 month in 16 patients who were hospitalized and treated with halop eridol in doses appropriate for best clinical response (range: 7.5-40 mg daily). Symptomatology was assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). There was no association of the side effects caused by the administration of CMI (nausea and emesis) to the GH responses. The side effects appeared significantly less in the after treatment trial s. Treatment with haloperidol did not influence the response patterns of the three hormones. An indication that high haloperidol doses may i nhibit the prolactin response to CMI was obtained when the data were c ompared between low (7.5-10 mg/day, mean 9.7) and high (15-40 mg/day, mean 22.0) dose subgroups. Significant positive correlations were foun d between the prolactin and cortisol responses to CMI in the drug-free state, and the scores in the positive symptoms subscale of the BPRS. The degree of improvement did not correlate to any of the hormonal dat a.