[CYP 2D6 activity profile among patients with depression]

The aim of this work was to establish the profile of CYP 2D6 activity among patients with depressive disorders, and compare it with the literature data on this activity among healthy volunteers, recruited from the Polish population.

The debrisoquine test was used to determine CYP 2D6 activity. Debrisoquine metabolic ratio (MR) was determined with the use of high performance liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric detection. Our results were compared with the results obtained with the use of an analogous method in the study performed at the Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw on 154 healthy controls.

The percentage of "ultra-fast metabolizers" was 1.03% in the group of patients with depression, and 1.3% in the group of healthy volunteers. The percentages of the "slow metabolizers" in both groups were 5.1% and 5.6% respectively. Also, the percentages of persons considered to be at an increased risk of undesirable side effects from drugs metabolized by CYP 2D6, i.e. persons with debrisoquine metabolic ratio values above 4 were nearly identical in both groups (11.3 and 11.6%).

The results showed that CYP 2D6 activity profiles were practically identical in both groups. This indicates that there is no relationship between CYP 2D6 gene expression, as measured by the debrisoquine test, and affective disorders morbidity.