In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association reported methodological flaws in Hoffer's work on niacin as a schizophrenia treatment and referred to follow-up studies that did not confirm any benefits of the treatment. The treatment of schizophrenia with such potent anti-oxidants is highly contested. In what Hoffer called the "adrenochrome hypothesis", he and Osmond in 1967 speculated that megadoses of vitamin C and niacin could cure schizophrenia by reducing brain adrenochrome.
In 1954, researchers Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond claimed that adrenochrome is a neurotoxic, psychotomimetic substance and may play a role in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Several small-scale studies (involving 15 or fewer test subjects) conducted in the 1950s and 1960s reported that adrenochrome triggered psychotic reactions such as thought disorder and derealization. In solution, adrenochrome is pink and further oxidation of the compound causes it to polymerize into brown or black melanin compounds. The oxidation reaction that converts adrenaline into adrenochrome occurs both in vivo and in vitro. Despite this compound's name, it is unrelated to the element chromium instead, the ‑chrome suffix indicates a relationship to color, as pure adrenochrome is deep violet. While it has no current medical application, the related derivative compound, carbazochrome, is a hemostatic medication. It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia.
Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine).
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