The neuroendocrine approach to psychiatric disorders: a critical appraisal

Tremendous efforts have been made to exploit the strategy of measuring the secretion of hormones into the plasma by the pituitary as a "window to the brain" and therefore as an insight into potential neurotransmitter receptor lesions in patients with psychiatric disorders. This contribution focuses upon the advantages and drawbacks of the neuroendocrine approach, caution and objectiveness necessary for the critical evaluation and interpretations of the data. Factors related to the neurobiology of the medial basal hypothalamus and its peculiar features, the information that can be derived from the administration of a specific neuroregulatory hormone or a neuroactive compound and evaluation of the evoked hormone release, the multiple constraints related to the drug itself and/or the physiology or coexisting pathology of the psychiatric patient under examination, are thoroughly discussed.