Yehuda R, Southwick S, Giller E L, Ma X, Mason J W
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Medical School, New York.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1992 May;180(5):321-5. doi: 10.1097/00005053-199205000-00006.
In the present study, we replicated and extended our previous findings of increased 24-hour urinary catecholamine excretion in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine concentrations were measured in 22 male patients with PTSD (14 inpatients and eight outpatients) and in 16 nonpsychiatric normal males. The PTSD inpatients showed significantly higher excretion of all three catecholamines compared with both outpatients with PTSD and normal controls. Dopamine and norepinephrine, but not epinephrine, levels were significantly correlated with severity of PTSD symptoms in the PTSD group as a whole. In particular, these catecholamines seemed related to intrusive symptoms. None of the catecholamines were correlated with severity of depression. The findings support the hypothesis of an enhanced sympathetic nervous system activation in PTSD, and suggest that increased sympathetic arousal may be closely linked to severity of certain PTSD symptom clusters.
在本研究中，我们重复并扩展了我们之前的研究结果，即创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者24小时尿儿茶酚胺排泄量增加。对22名男性PTSD患者（14名住院患者和8名门诊患者）以及16名非精神科正常男性的多巴胺、去甲肾上腺素和肾上腺素浓度进行了测量。与PTSD门诊患者和正常对照组相比，PTSD住院患者的所有三种儿茶酚胺排泄量均显著更高。在整个PTSD组中，多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素水平（而非肾上腺素水平）与PTSD症状的严重程度显著相关。特别是，这些儿茶酚胺似乎与侵入性症状有关。没有一种儿茶酚胺与抑郁严重程度相关。这些发现支持了PTSD中交感神经系统激活增强的假说，并表明交感神经兴奋增加可能与某些PTSD症状群的严重程度密切相关。
