Serum prolactin correlates with depressed mood during alcohol withdrawal. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Alterations in central dopamine function have been identified in depression and in alcohol withdrawal. Attempts to determine the magnitude and direction of the central dopamine alteration in alcohol withdrawal have produced conflicting results. In this study serum prolactin (PRL) was used as an indicator of central dopamine activity since dopamine is the most important factor in the control of prolactin secretion from the pituitary. Increased serum PRL levels were found during alcohol withdrawal and they correlated significantly with high scores on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). No significant correlations were identified with The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the 'Mini-Mental State' of Folstein (MMS), The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) or The Modified Gross Alcohol Withdrawal Selective Severity Assessment Scale (GAWSSA). The authors concluded that the transient depressive symptomatology typically found in detoxifying alcoholic patients may be, in part, the result of a central hypodopaminergic state.

publication date

  • July 1, 1986

Research

keywords

  • Alcoholism
  • Depression
  • Prolactin
  • Substance Withdrawal Syndrome

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0022454757

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/0376-8716(86)90082-7

PubMed ID

  • 3757769

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 17

issue

  • 4