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Among various hypotheses put forth to account for the etiology of schizophrenia, the abnormal function of serotonergic system has recently gained marked interest. Our previous study showed that drug-free schizophrenic patients had a significant increase in maximum numbers (B_max) of platelet 5-HT_2A receptors that declined to normal level after treatment with different neuroleptic drugs. To elucidate the role of the serotonin system in schizophrenia, the serotonin transporters on human platelets were examined in this study. Platelet serotonin transporters obtained from normal control subjects and schizophrenic patients were identified by using [³H]imipramine as the radioligand and fluoxetine to define the non-specific binding. The data showed that the mean B_max of serotonin transporter sites for schizophrenic patients without neuroleptic therapy was significantly higher than in normal controls. The B_max values for …