[Features of the functioning of the catecholamine and adrenocortical systems of patients with depression and different degrees of emotional tension].

The catecholamine and adrenocortical systems in 52 patients with depression were studied with regard to the degree of their emotional tension. On the basis of the clinical characteristics of the depressive syndrome the patients were divided into two groups: the stressory hyperergic type (Group 1) and the torpid hypoergic type (Group 2). Some characteristics of the studied systems proved common for both groups: they increased secretion of 11-hydroxycorticosteroids and impairment of the mechanisms of negative feedback in the regulation of adrenocortical activity, as well as a decrease in the excretion of dopamine, adrenaline, and DOPA in the presence of a relative acceleration of catecholamine inactivation. Along with the characteristics common for all the patients studied, the authors revealed a highly significant difference in noradrenaline excretion between Groups 1 and 2: it was normal in Group 1 and decreased three-fold in Group 2. The findings obtained are discussed in the light of the catecholamine hypothesis of depression development.