DrugLib.com — Drug Information Portal

Rx drug information, pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, news, and more



Lack of correlation between cerebrospinal fluid thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and TRH-stimulated thyroid-stimulating hormone in patients with depression.

Author(s): Frye MA, Dunn RT, Gary KA, Kimbrell TA, Callahan AM, Luckenbaugh DA, Cora-Locatelli G, Vanderham E, Winokur A, Post RM

Affiliation(s): National Institute of Mental Health, Biological Psychiatry Branch, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

Publication date & source: 1999-04-15, Biol Psychiatry., 45(8):1049-52.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that elevated central thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is associated with the blunted thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) response to TRH in patients with depression. Few studies have directly evaluated this relationship between central nervous system and peripheral endocrine systems in the same patient population. METHODS: 15 depressed patients (4 male, 11 female, 12 bipolar, and 3 unipolar) during a double-blind, medication-free period of at least 2 weeks duration, underwent a baseline lumbar puncture followed by a TRH stimulation test. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) TRH and serial serum TSH, free thyroxine, triiodothyronine, prolactin, and cortisol were measured. A blunted response to TRH was defined as a delta TSH less than 7 microU/mL. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in mean CSF TRH between "blunters" (2.82 +/- 1.36 pg/mL) and "non-blunters" (3.97 +/- 0.62 pg/mL, p = .40). There was no evidence of an inverse relationship between CSF TRH and baseline or delta TSH. There was no correlation between CSF TRH and the severity of depression or any other endocrine measure. CONCLUSIONS: These data are not consistent with the prediction of hypothalamic TRH hypersecretion and subsequent pituitary down-regulation in depression; however, CSF TRH may be from a nonparaventricular nucleus-hypothalamic source (i.e., limbic area, suprachiasmatic nucleus, brain stem-dorsal raphe) and thus, not necessarily related to peripheral neuroendocrine indices.

Page last updated: 2006-01-31

-- advertisement -- The American Red Cross
 
Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site usage policy | Privacy policy

All Rights reserved - Copyright DrugLib.com, 2006-2017