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Effect of acute metabolic stress on pituitary-adrenal axis activation in patients with schizophrenia
I Elman1, C M Adler, A K Malhotra
1Experimental Therapeutics Branch, NIMH, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., USA. elman.igor@mgh.harvard.edu
Objective:
Although several lines of evidence suggest that stress plays a role in the course of schizophrenia, studies that have assessed stress-relevant neurobiological measures have not produced consistent results. The authors examined the effects of acute metabolic stress induced by 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) on pituitary-adrenal axis activation.
Method:
Thirteen patients with schizophrenia and 11 healthy comparison subjects were administered pharmacological doses of 2-DG (40 mg/kg). The subjects' arterial plasma was then assayed for levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol.
Results:
2-DG induced significant increases in the measured hormones in both groups, and ACTH elevations were significantly greater in patients with schizophrenia than in comparison subjects.
Conclusions:
Patients with schizophrenia have an exaggerated ACTH response to acute metabolic stress exposure.