Cortisol feedback during the HPA quiescent period in patients with major depression. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: The authors tested the hypothesis that patients with major depression have a defect in the mechanism by which cortisol exerts negative feedback on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during the HPA axis quiescent period. METHOD: Twenty-nine patients with major depression and 25 healthy comparison subjects were randomly assigned to administration of 15 mg cortisol or placebo infused over 2 hours beginning at 7:00 p.m. Cortisol and ACTH levels were measured at baseline and every 30 minutes from 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. RESULTS: Differences between the patients and the comparison subjects in the ACTH response to the cortisol infusion, relative to the ACTH response to placebo, were not found. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide some evidence that patients with major depression do not have an abnormality of cortisol feedback during the HPA axis quiescent period.

publication date

  • December 1, 2001

Research

keywords

  • Depressive Disorder, Major
  • Hydrocortisone
  • Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System
  • Pituitary-Adrenal System

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0035185053

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1176/appi.ajp.158.12.2083

PubMed ID

  • 11729034

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 158

issue

  • 12