Serum folate and homocysteine in chronic schizophrenic patients.

Introduction Homocysteine is an amino-acidic product of methionine demethylation. Hyperhomocysteinemia (which is frequently found in schizophrenia (Nishi et al. 2014)) increases cardiovascular risk (Marti-Carvajal et al. 2009) and may trigger neuronal apoptosis (Mattson & Shea 2003). It may result from low folate intake (Selhub 2006), while folate deficiency is common in schizophrenia and may be associated with severity of negative symptoms (Goff et al. 2004) or cognitive deficits. Below, a new report on folate and homocysteine levels in schizophrenia is provided.