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A study was made of the diurnal excretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline in children aged 7 to 14 years suffering from migraine (n = 33), epilepsy (n = 21), and from syncopes (n = 13). For that purpose use was made of fluorometry. The patients with epilepsia and syncopes manifested a fall of adrenaline excretion; noradrenaline excretion correlated with the control data. The children suffering from migraine demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of adrenaline excretion and a rise of noradrenaline excretion, leading to dramatic changes in the amines ratio. Therefore, in patients suffering from vegetovascular dystonia with paroxysmal crises, measurements of adrenaline and noradrenaline excretion may serve an additional criterion for making correct diagnosis.

The therapeutic activity of tryptophan and the serotonin blood level in epileptic patients were studied. A group of patients (24 cases) received tryptophan (a source of serotonin synthesis in the organism per os during three weeks in a dose of 0,25 g thrice daily. The studies demonstrated the decreased initial level of blood serotonin in patients, especially in those with frequent epileptic seizures and with the disease of long standing. The intake of tryptophan even after a week of its administration produced a reliable increase in the level of blood serotonin and suggestive changes in the clinical picture. This was especially noticeable in patients with seizures of the grand mal tupe and personality changes.

Epileptic patients were examined for the daily urine elimination of DOPA, dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), and adrenaline (A). The changes in the excretion of these substances after L-DOPA intake and the adrenaline and insulin test were also investigated. In addition to the evidence about the preserved reactivity of the DOPA-DA-NA-A system to L-DOPA intake, data were obtained pointing to its strain and a reduction in the reserve potentialities. The use of the adrenaline test disclosed the absence of, or a negative response on the part of DA and A in half of the patients, which correlated with definite clinical parameters. In one third of the patients, the insulin test was not accompanied by any increase in the excretion of A or its precursors. The findings obtained are indicative of the insufficiency of homeostatic reactions in epileptics and, possibly, of the deficit of the repolarizing mechanisms.

The authors studied the catecholamine metabolism with an additional use of the function loadings by insulin and adrenalin in 77 epileptic patients who were ill for a long time and had marked disturbances in mental activity. The study was conducted in dynamics. The authors revealed a considerable activation of catecholamine metabolism in patients with acute psychotic states during dysphoria and in periods close to attacks against the background of typical, for the studied group, depression of the sympathoadrenalin system. The differences in the nature of reaction to the functional loadings, changing in various stages of the disease development and reflecting, to some extent, the compensatory possibilities of organism were registered.