A New Study Have Developed A Method To Make Schizophrenia Diagnosis Simpler

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A study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland College Park (UMD) and Baltimore (UMB) campuses have developed a blood test that could help doctors to diagnose schizophrenia and other disorders more quickly. The study is titled "Redox Probing for Chemical Information of Oxidative Stress."

Schizophrenia is described as a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects up to one percent of the United States adult population. The disorder influences how people think, feel and behave with the onset of the symptoms often beginning between the ages 16 and 30 years.

The symptoms are said to range from movement disorders, visual and auditory hallucinations to difficulty beginning and keeping up with activities. "We hope our new technique will allow a more rapid detection and intervention for schizophrenia, and ultimately lead to better outcomes," author, a joint professor of UMD's Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR), Gregory Payne said.

However, according to Bioe, thorough psychological evaluation and a comprehensive medical exam are necessary for the diagnoses schizophrenia and related disorders to rule out the possibility of other conditions. The researchers note that a patient should be evaluated for up to six months before diagnosis and treatment especially if the patient displays early signs of the disorder.

But previous studies on the subject suggest that the outcome of patients could be improved if the period between the onset of symptoms and the commencement of treatment is short. This is the reason why the researchers believe that a chemical test to detect oxidative stress in the blood might not be effective in helping to quickly diagnose schizophrenia.

The researchers utilized a discovery-driven approach with the belief that chemical biomarkers associated with oxidative stress might be found in blood and they could be easily measured by common electrochemical instruments. The current study built on the understanding of how foods are tested for antioxidants by using an iridium salt to probe blood serum samples for detectable optical and electrochemical signals indicative of oxidative stress in the body. The initial tests reveal that various biological reductants, such as glutathione can be detected, Science Daily.

The researchers performed a clinical evaluation with serum samples from 10 clinical research participants that were diagnosed with schizophrenia and also that of a healthy control group. They were able to accurately differentiate between the samples of participants who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia from those of the healthy control group using the new testing method. The findings of the study were recently published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.