Disrupted leptin-fatty acid biosynthesis is an early manifestation of metabolic abnormalities in schizophrenia

Figure 1 Statistical analyses of plasma leptin, body mass index, erythrocyte membrane saturated fatty acids in healthy control subjects, first-episode psychosis and chronic schizophrenia patients. A: Average plasma leptin (Figure 1A) in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients (4.77 ± 1.35 ng/mL) was significantly (P = 0.028) lower than healthy control (CNT) subjects (5.79 ± 0.80 ng/mL). In chronic schizophrenia (CSZ) patients, plasma leptin (8.33 ± 1.25 ng/mL) was significantly higher than FEP patients (P = 0.006); B: The average body mass index (BMI) value of FEP patients (23.21 ± 2.14) was statistically similar to the BMI value of CNT subjects (25.10 ± 2.61, P = 0.144). The average BMI value of clozapine treated CSZ patients (29.86 ± 3.60) was significantly (P = 0.012) higher than FEP patients; C and D: Erythrocyte membrane palmitic acid and stearic acid, respectively were significantly (P < 0.005) higher in both FEP and CSZ patients compared to the CNT subjects. CNT: Healthy control; FEP: First-episode psychosis; CSZ: Chronic schizophrenia; BMI: Body mass index; SFAs: Saturated fatty acids; PA: Palmitic acid; SA: Stearic acid. ^aP < 0.05 and ^bP < 0.01.