Reduction of cerebrospinal fluid glutamic acid in Huntington's chorea and in schizophrenic patients.

Glutamic acid levels were investigated in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood serum of patients with schizophrenia, Huntington's chorea, and sciatic nerve compression by lumbar disc protrusion. In the serum the glutamic acid levels were equal in all three groups; in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of schizophrenic and Hungtington's patients, however, the glutamic acid was decreased to almost half that of the lumbar disc group which served as control. Most of the patients were treated with neuroleptic drugs. However, since in one case (the daughter of a Huntington's patient) the CSF glutamic acid was decreased although this woman had had no neuroleptic treatment, it seems more likely that the glutamic acid decrease is due to the disease rather than to the neuroleptic treatment.