Abstract:
The syndrome of chronic fatigue, feverishness, diffuse pains, and other constitutional complaints, often precipitated by an acute infectious illness and aggravated by physical and emotional stressors, has a lengthy history in the medical literature.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently formulated a case definition, renaming the illness “chronic fatigue syndrome.” Nevertheless, there remain few biological data that can validate the existence of this syndrome as distinct from a wide variety of other, largely psychiatric disorders, and little understanding of its pathogenesis.
In the present study, basal plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of the monoamine metabolites, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and homovanillic acid (HVA) were determined in 19 patients meeting CDC research case criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and in 17 normal individuals.
Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome showed a significant reduction in basal plasma levels of MHPG and a significant increase in basal plasma levels of 5-HIAA. Although the functional significance of these findings has not been definitively elucidated, they are compatible with the clinical presentation of a syndrome associated with chronic lethargy and fatigue, and with evidence of persistent immune stimulation, and lend support to the idea that chronic fatigue syndrome represents a clinical entity with potential biological specificity.
Source: Demitrack MA, Gold PW, Dale JK, Krahn DD, Kling MA, Straus SE. Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid monoamine metabolism in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: preliminary findings. Biol Psychiatry. 1992 Dec 15;32(12):1065-77. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1282370