Erythrocyte membrane nervonic acid in drug-naive first-episode psychosis and chronic medicated schizophrenia: Implication for impaired myelination and prognosis

Figure 1 Statistical analyses of erythrocyte membrane nervonic acid level and its association with psychopathology in schizophrenia. ^aP < 0.05 was considered significant. A: The level of erythrocyte membrane nervonic acid (NA) was non-significantly elevated in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) (grey bar) compared to the control subjects (empty bar). However, membrane NA level was significantly reduced in medicated patients with chronic schizophrenia compared to both the control subjects and FEP patients (black bar); B: In patients with FEP, erythrocyte membrane NA did not show significant association with positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS)-positive symptom scores; C: It showed significantly negative association with PANSS-negative symptom scores; D: In chronic schizophrenia patients, erythrocyte membrane NA showed significant negative association with both PANSS-positive symptom scores; E: PANSS-negative symptom scores. CNT: Control; FEP: First-episode psychosis; CSZ: Chronic schizophrenia; PANSS-PSS: Positive and negative syndrome scale-positive symptom score; PANSS-NSS: Positive and negative syndrome scale-negative symptom score.

Figure 2 Association of erythrocyte membrane nervonic acid with plasma leptin and body mass index in schizophrenia. ^aP < 0.05 was considered significant. A: In patients with first-episode psychosis, erythrocyte membrane nervonic acid (NA) did not show significant association with plasma leptin; B: In patients with first-episode psychosis, erythrocyte membrane NA did not show significant association with body mass index; C: In medicated patients with chronic schizophrenia, erythrocyte membrane NA showed significant negative association with plasma leptin; D: In medicated patients with chronic schizophrenia, erythrocyte membrane NA showed significant negative association with body mass index. FEP: First-episode psychosis; CSZ: Chronic schizophrenia.