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Related Experiment Videos

Catecholamine and HPA axis dysfunction in depression: relationship with suicidal behavior.

William Pitchot1, Jean Reggers, Emmanuel Pinto

  • 1Psychiatric Unit, CHU Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium. wpitchot@chu.ulg.ac.be

Neuropsychobiology
|May 22, 2003
PubMed
Summary

This study investigated catecholamine function in depressed suicide attempters. Results suggest that high cortisol levels do not explain impaired growth hormone response to certain medications in these patients.

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Area of Science:

  • Neurobiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Catecholaminergic function is implicated in suicidal behavior.
  • Neuroendocrine strategies assess neurotransmitter activity in depression.
  • Growth hormone (GH) response to challenges may be confounded by corticosteroid effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate GH response to dopaminergic and alpha2-adrenergic agonists in depressed suicide attempters versus nonattempters.
  • To determine if hypercortisolemia, assessed by the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), affects GH response.
  • To clarify the role of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in impaired GH response.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed GH response to apomorphine (dopaminergic agonist) and clonidine (alpha2-adrenergic agonist).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Utilized the DST to evaluate hypercortisolemia.
  • Compared 20 major depressed inpatients with a history of suicide attempt to nonattempters.

    • Main Results:

    • Post-DST cortisol values (hypercortisolemia) did not inhibit GH response to apomorphine or clonidine.
    • Observed a trend suggesting hypercortisolemia does not explain impaired GH response to apomorphine in suicide attempters.

    Conclusions:

    • Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis overactivity is unlikely to explain the impaired GH response to apomorphine in major depressed patients with a history of suicide attempt.
    • Further research is needed to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying suicidal behavior in depression.