Cerebrospinal fluid angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) correlates with length of illness in schizophrenia

The aim of the study was to evaluate a possible progression with time of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) levels in treated schizophrenia patients. CSF ACE was determined in duplicate by a sensitive inhibitor-binding assay (IBA) from morning CSF samples of 56 acute and chronic in-patients with schizophrenic psychoses diagnosed according to DSM-IV. CSF ACE correlated significantly with length of schizophrenic psychosis ( r=0.39, p=0.003). There was also a positive significant correlation between CSF ACE and duration of current psychotic episode ( r=0.39, p=0.003) as well as duration of current hospitalization ( r=0.66, p