Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have investigated the dexamethasone suppression of cortisol release in a group of 28 patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) after stimulation by physostigmine and clonidine, as compared with basal conditions. All patients but one had previously been evaluated with a depression symptom checklist and had submitted to a standard Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST). SDAT patients showed normal baseline cortisol values measured at 4:00 PM. DST was reproducible, but nonsuppression did not appear to be a feature of the disease, nor of the dementia syndrome, although a majority of the most demented patients were found to be nonsuppressors. Physostigmine stimulated cortisol secretion in 20 of 24 cases, irrespective of the severity of dementia. Clonidine induced a secretion in 12 of 15 cases, but this was less than that observed after cholinergic stimulation. Physostigmine made cortisol release significantly less sensitive to the suppressive effect of dexamethasone than clonidine in SDAT. This double response should be tested as a possible predictor of a cholinergic therapeutic effect.
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PMID:Pharmacological modulation of cortisol secretion and dexamethasone suppression in Alzheimer's disease. 333 50

Elevated ratings of anxiety and agitation in Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) nonsuppressors suggest a role for psychological stress in the generation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical (HPAC) abnormalities characteristic of depression. We employed the learned helplessness model of depression to test the effectiveness of psychological stress in inducing a resistance of plasma corticosterone levels to dexamethasone suppression. Inescapably shocked rats exhibited corticosterone levels that were significantly more resistant to dexamethasone suppression than were the levels of rats receiving an equivalent amount of escapable shock or no shock. These results confirm the hypothesis that HPAC resistance to dexamethasone suppression is enhanced by the distress associated with the inefficacy of behavioral coping responses. The present findings represent the first analog of the DST in the learned helplessness model of depression. This DST model allows investigations into neurobiological mechanisms underlying the HPAC alterations in depression.
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PMID:Learned helplessness: an experimental model of the DST in rats. 276 3

Abnormalities of noradrenaline metabolism and of the activity of hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) have been reported in depression. To study the possible relationship between these 2 parameters, urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethyleneglycol (MHPG) and Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) were analyzed in 58 depressed patients. A positive correlation was found between the age of depressed patients and 24-h urinary excretion of MHPG. Twenty-two patients (38%) were DST non suppressors. Pre-DST plasma cortisol levels were significantly higher in non suppressors than suppressors. No difference was found however between urinary MHPG levels in suppressors and non suppressors. There was no correlation between pre-DST plasma cortisol and levels of urinary excretion of MHPG. These results do not support the hypothesis of a relationship between these 2 parameters. However, when depressed patients were separated into two groups according to urinary excretion of MHPG ("high MHPG" and "low MHPG"), the "high MHPG" group included significantly more non suppressors then the "low MHPG" one. This result is not sufficient to demonstrate of link between HPA system activity and central noradrenaline metabolism.
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PMID:Lack of correlation between DST results and urinary MHPG in depressed inpatients. 338 23

The symptomatology of 46 patients with an established diagnosis of Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) endogenous depression was described by means of a 46-item symptom checklist, the Amsterdam Depression List (ADL), second version. Thirty symptoms were identified as common or very common symptoms of RDC endogenous depression. Among these common or very common symptoms only eight were RDC endogenous symptoms, and two of these were obligatory inclusion criteria. The ADL revealed 22 nonendogenous symptoms (according to RDC) to be common or very common symptoms of patients with RDC endogenous depression. The core symptoms, depressed mood and loss of pleasure, appeared to be weakly correlated with each other. Of the remaining 28 common or very common symptoms, 12 correlated significantly with at least one of the core symptoms and 16 did not. Dexamethasone suppression test suppressors and nonsuppressors did not differ, either in symptomatology or in severity of the syndrome.
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PMID:An elaborate description of the symptomatology of patients with Research Diagnostic Criteria endogenous depression. 340 39

Senile dementia patients show a high incidence of abnormal Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) which has been suggested to reflect the presence of atypical or subclinical depression; this study was designed to test this hypothesis. Thirty-six patients, diagnosed as suffering from dementia and/or depression on the DSM-III criteria, participated in the study. They were divided into three groups. dementia (12), depression (12) and dementia with depression (12). The results indicated that although patients with depression alone responded well to antidepressant therapy, no improvement occurred in patients with dementia. Demented patients who had clinical depression also showed a poor response. The response to treatment was unrelated to the DST status of the patients. It is concluded that abnormal DST in dementia patients is not indicative of a masked affective state, and antidepressants have no place in the management of dementia patients who have a positive DST but no overt affective symptoms.
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PMID:Dexamethasone suppression test and response to antidepressant therapy in psychogeriatric patients. 340 39

Evaluations of neuroendocrine abnormalities and possible relationship to major affective disorder in normal weight bulimic women have utilized the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST). In our sample of 29 bulimic women, 59% showed DST nonsuppression (DSTNS). Two diagnostic correlates were significant in relation to DSTNS: prior history of anorexia nervosa and current clinical DSM III diagnosis of depression. Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) scores were also significantly higher in the DSTNS group. The findings suggest that more extensive psychiatric disorder and ingestive abnormalities may be present in this subgroup of normal weight bulimic women who exhibit DST nonsuppression.
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PMID:Two diagnostic correlates of dexamethasone nonsuppression in normal weight bulimia. 342 80

P300 and Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) have been carried out on 60 depressed patients classified according to the DSM-III and compared to controls. DST discriminated with a high specificity (85%) and sensitivity (80%) melancholics from controls and from other groups of depressed patients: post-dexamethasone cortisol levels were significantly higher in the former. The amplitude of P300 was significantly smaller in depressives as compared to controls. This was more pronounced in the melancholic group but was not specific to them. On the other hand, correlation analyses showed that the weaker the P300 amplitude, the higher the score at the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [Acta psychiat. belg., 87, 694-703 (1987)].
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PMID:[Dexamethasone suppression test and endogenous components of evoked potentials in depressed subjects]. 345 88

Rat liver sterol carrier protein (SCP) is a major intracellular protein regulating lipid metabolism and transport. During a dark-light cycle, SCP undergoes a dramatic diurnal variation in synthesis and level, reflecting translational events. Several hormones participate in the control of SCP synthesis. Insulin was implicated when the circadian rhythm of SCP was lost in both diabetes and fasting, states where insulin is low. After a 12-h fast the amplitude of the diurnal rhythm is diminished; after a 48-h fast it disappears, although SCP synthesis and level remain high. When endogenous insulin secretion is increased in fasted rats by glucose administration, SCP increases 2-fold in less than 30 min. When food intake is manipulated, but the dark-light cycle is unchanged, the circadian rhythm of SCP corresponds to feeding patterns and not light cycling. During feeding, increases in SCP are triggered following the expected increase in serum insulin. However, SCP is rapidly and significantly elevated in response to insulin only when glucocorticoids are normally high or increased by injection of the synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone. Hepatocyte SCP levels are also induced by a combination of insulin and dexamethasone (2.3-fold) or insulin alone (1.3-fold). Dexamethasone alone causes a striking depression of SCP (2.4-fold). Thus, insulin is a major regulator of the diurnal variation of SCP synthesis. Glucocorticoids and other hormones (e.g. triiodothyronine) are also essential for maximum induction of SCP but play permissive roles.
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PMID:Hormonal triggering of the diurnal variation of sterol carrier protein. 351 Oct 56

Four different methods of quantifying the 1-mg Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) were contrasted with serial testing in endogenous depressives receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Of three continuous measures in 38 patients with pretreatment DSTs, only the log-transformed value for plasma cortisol was normally distributed, indicating that it possessed superior psychometric properties. Pretreatment Hamilton Depression Rating Scores (HAM-D) correlated positively with pretreatment DST status, with a similar association noted between posttreatment DST status and HAM-D scores. There was no uniform effect of ECT on the DST. Although pretreatment nonsuppressors showed a trend toward decreased postdexamethasone cortisol values, initial suppressors (cutoff: 5 micrograms/dl) evidenced a significant increase in these values, and 35.3% of initial suppressors were nonsuppressors at final DST assessment. These trends were noted in the DST assessment done following the third ECT treatment, suggesting an effect of regression to the mean. The findings highlight the importance of following initial DST suppressors in studies of this type.
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PMID:Serial dexamethasone suppression tests in initial suppressors and nonsuppressors treated with electroconvulsive therapy. 356 61

The results of this study suggest that the relationship between cognitions and severity of depression hypothesized by cognitive theorists may be relevant only to a subgroup of depressives. In a sample of 40 inpatients with major depression who received the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST), scores on the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale were equivalent in suppressor and nonsuppressor groups, as well as in melancholic and nonmelancholic depressive groups. Neither was there a difference between suppressors and nonsuppressors on measures of depression. However, in the nonmelancholic group, there was a significant relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and severity of depression. This relationship was not found in the melancholic group. Finally, independent of diagnostic and biological subtype, patients with elevated levels of dysfunctional cognitions when compared with the remaining sample revealed greater severity of depression, more days in hospital and more readmissions to hospital.
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PMID:Relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive subtypes. 356 35


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