Insulin-like growth factor I in depressed patients and controls

To explore the role of the somatomedin-mediated long-loop negative feed-back mechanism in altered growth hormone (GH) secretory dynamics associated with depression, plasma IGF-I concentrations were measured in 34 patients with a major depressive episode and matched healthy subjects. Compared with controls, depressed patients exhibited significantly increased plasma IGF-I concentrations. In the patient group plasma IGF-I concentrations were positively correlated with the maximum post-dexamethasone plasma cortisol concentrations. Our data suggest that increased plasma IGF-I concentration may reflect diurnal GH hypersecretion, contribute to deficient GH responses to dynamic challenges, and indicate an interrelationship between the hypothalamic-pituitary-somatotropic (HPS) and -adrenocortical (HPA) system regulation in depression.