Fornaro P, Lippi P, Allegretti M
Istituto di Clinica Psichiatrica, Università di Genova.
Minerva Psichiatr. 1992 Jul-Sep;33(3):177-83.
A large body of literature data have indicated that the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) may be useful in diagnosing depression. It has been also hypothesized that depressed patients showing an abnormal response to dexamethasone administration ("DST-non suppressors") are responsive to the treatment with psychopharmacological agents whereas the "DST-suppressors" subjects are often "placebo-responders". Moreover, on the basis of considerations concerning the inhibitory role of noradrenaline in the control of both the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and mood, it has been claimed that the "DST-non suppressors" subjects respond to the treatment with antidepressant drugs potentiating the noradrenergic activity at level of the central nervous system. The present review of the main data on the topic leads to conclude that the DST may be useful in selecting the most appropriate treatment for depressed patients; the test, however, does not make it possible to choose the antidepressant drug on the basis of its neurochemical profile.
大量文献数据表明，地塞米松抑制试验（DST）可能有助于抑郁症的诊断。也有人推测，对地塞米松给药表现出异常反应的抑郁症患者（“DST非抑制者”）对精神药物治疗有反应，而“DST抑制者”往往是“安慰剂反应者”。此外，基于去甲肾上腺素在下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴活动和情绪控制中的抑制作用的考虑，有人声称“DST非抑制者”对增强中枢神经系统去甲肾上腺素能活性的抗抑郁药物治疗有反应。对该主题主要数据的当前综述得出结论，DST可能有助于为抑郁症患者选择最合适的治疗方法；然而，该试验无法根据其神经化学特征选择抗抑郁药物。
