J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1991; 3:417-421
Copyright © 1991 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Neuropsychological performance and urinary phenylethylamine in Tourette's syndrome
RA Bornstein and GB Baker
Department of Psychiatry, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
Patients with Tourette's syndrome (TS) were grouped on the basis of levels
of urinary phenylethylamine (PEA). These groups of TS patients were
compared on an extensive battery of neuropsychological measures converted
to age-corrected T scores based on published normative data. Patients with
PEA levels below that of normal controls performed significantly worse than
TS patients with normal PEA levels. The data were interpreted to suggest
that abnormalities in PEA may contribute to neuropsychological deficits.
Furthermore, these data may provide further support for an etiological
subgroup of TS patients characterized by an abnormality in PEA metabolism.
These data are discussed in regard to directions for further investigation.
