Oxazepam as a probe of hepatic metabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Fisman, Michael, Ted Inaba, Werner Kalow, Hannah Fox, Harold Merskey and Cindy Wong: Oxazepam as a probe of hepatic metabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Prog. Neuro-Psychopharmacol. & Biol. Psychiat. 1988, 12 :255–261 1. 1. Hepatic metabolism of oxazepam in Alzheimer's disease (AD) was assessed by measurement of urinary metabolites in a group of hospitalized patients with AD, a hospitalized schizophrenic control group and a normal community based group. 2. 2. A subgroup of six AD patients showed marked elevations of the hydroxylated metabolite. The median excretion of conjugated oxazepam in the AD and schizophrenic patients was almost one third that in normal controls (p < .005). 3. 3. A relationship between decline in level of conjugated metabolite and increase in the mental confusion score on the London Psychiatric Rating Scale (r = −.5253, p < .05) was found in the AD patients. 4. 4. Changes in hepatic metabolism in AD may be relevant not only for drug metabolism and the development of side effects, but also for the pathogenesis of AD.