Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu 8078555, Japan.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Nov 13;33(8):1451-3. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2009.07.028. Epub 2009 Aug 5.
Depression is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). It has been demonstrated that there is a potential role of nitric oxide (NO) in the relationship between depression and CHD risk as well as an effect of antidepressants on NO production. This study included 40 in- or outpatients in our university hospital who met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for major depressive disorder (M/F: 15/25, age: 47+/-19 years) and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (M/F: 10/20, age: 45+/-15 years), and also examined the effects of the antidepressants on the plasma NOx levels in depressed patients. The baseline plasma NOx levels were significantly lower in the whole depressed group than in the control group (p<0.01). Treatment with milnacipran, but not paroxetine, significantly increased the plasma NOx levels by 4 and 8 weeks. These results suggest that decreased plasma NOx levels might be partially associated with the pathophysiology of depression, and that treatment with milnacipran, a serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, might increase those levels in depressed patients.
抑郁症是冠心病（CHD）的一个风险因素。已经证明，一氧化氮（NO）在抑郁症与 CHD 风险之间的关系中具有潜在作用，以及抗抑郁药对 NO 产生的影响。本研究纳入了我院 40 名符合 DSM-IV-TR 重性抑郁障碍标准的门诊或住院患者（男/女：15/25，年龄：47+/-19 岁）和 30 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者（男/女：10/20，年龄：45+/-15 岁），还检测了抗抑郁药对抑郁患者血浆 NOx 水平的影响。整个抑郁组的基线血浆 NOx 水平明显低于对照组（p<0.01）。米那普仑治疗而非帕罗西汀治疗 4 周和 8 周后，显著升高了血浆 NOx 水平。这些结果表明，降低的血浆 NOx 水平可能与抑郁症的病理生理学部分相关，而作为一种 5-羟色胺去甲肾上腺素再摄取抑制剂的米那普仑治疗可能会增加抑郁患者的这些水平。
