CSF inositol in schizophrenia and high-dose inositol treatment of schizophrenia.

Inositol is a key metabolite in the phosphatidylinositol cycle, which is a second messenger system for serotonin-2 receptors that have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Cerebrospinal fluid inositol levels were measured in 20 schizophrenic patients and 19 age- and sex-matched controls and no difference was found. However, the patients were all neuroleptic-treated. A controlled double-blind crossover trial of 12 g daily of inositol for a month in 12 anergic schizophrenic patients, twice the dose given before in schizophrenia, did not show any beneficial effects. However, the number of patients studied was small and the length of time of inositol administration may not have been sufficient.