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Philip A. Berger, MD; Stanley J. Watson, MD, PhD; Huda Akil, PhD; Glen R. Elliott, MD, PhD; Robert T. Rubin, MD; Adolf Pfefferbaum, MD; Kenneth L. Davis, MD; Jack D. Barchas, MD; Choh Hao Li, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1980;37(6):635-640.

Abstract
• To study the effects of β-endorphin in chronic schizophrenia, nine male patients participated in a double-blind crossover comparison of a single intravenous 20-mg injection of β-endorphin and saline. Bolus injection of β-endorphin from an albumincoated syringe produced markedly higher plasma concentrations than did slow intravenous infusion from a non$albumincoated syringe. β-endorphin intravenously injected in nine patients produced a statistically significant increase in serum prolactin levels. In one patient, both 10 mg of morphine sulfate and 20 mg of β-endorphin produced similar increases in the alpha power of the EEG. In eight patients, β-endorphin administration was associated with a statistically significant but not clinically obvious improvement in schizophrenic symptoms.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Calif (Drs Berger, Elliott, Pfefferbaum, Davis, and Barchas); the Mental Health Research Institute and Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Drs Watson and Akil); the Department of Psychiatry, Harbor/UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif (Dr Rubin); and the Hormone Research Laboratory, University of California at San Francisco (Dr Li).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Jan 30, 1980.

Reprint requests to Stanford Mental Health Clinical Research Center, Ward 4C2, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 3801 Miranda Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (Dr Berger).

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