Improvement in depressive illness is not associated with altered release of neurophysins over a course of ECT.

The hypothesis that the release of vasopressin-associated neurophysin (hNpI) or oxytocin-associated neurophysin (hNpII) is modified by a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was tested by the measurement of serum neurophysins before and after the first and last ECTs given to 17 unipolar depressed patients. Neither basal nor ECT-induced neurophysin release changed between the first and last ECTs. Data from the present study were combined with data from a previous published study to provide a sample of 29 unipolar depressed patients. In this extended sample, the release of hNpII after the first ECT was significantly correlated with improvement in symptoms of depression over a course of ECT as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale.