Lôo H, Poirier M F, Dennis T, Benkelfat C, Vanelle J M, Gay C, Galinowski A, Askienazy S, Scatton B
Department of Mental Health and Therapeutics, Sainte Anne Hospital, Paris-Cochin University Clinic, France.
J Neural Transm. 1988;72(2):121-30. doi: 10.1007/BF01250235.
Abnormalities of noradrenaline metabolism and of the activity of hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) have been reported in depression. To study the possible relationship between these 2 parameters, urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethyleneglycol (MHPG) and Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) were analyzed in 58 depressed patients. A positive correlation was found between the age of depressed patients and 24-h urinary excretion of MHPG. Twenty-two patients (38%) were DST non suppressors. Pre-DST plasma cortisol levels were significantly higher in non suppressors than suppressors. No difference was found however between urinary MHPG levels in suppressors and non suppressors. There was no correlation between pre-DST plasma cortisol and levels of urinary excretion of MHPG. These results do not support the hypothesis of a relationship between these 2 parameters. However, when depressed patients were separated into two groups according to urinary excretion of MHPG ("high MHPG" and "low MHPG"), the "high MHPG" group included significantly more non suppressors then the "low MHPG" one. This result is not sufficient to demonstrate of link between HPA system activity and central noradrenaline metabolism.
抑郁症患者中已报道存在去甲肾上腺素代谢异常以及下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴（HPA）活性异常。为研究这两个参数之间的可能关系，对58例抑郁症患者的3 - 甲氧基 - 4 - 羟基 - 苯乙二醇（MHPG）尿排泄量和地塞米松抑制试验（DST）进行了分析。发现抑郁症患者的年龄与24小时尿MHPG排泄量之间存在正相关。22例患者（38%）为DST非抑制者。DST前非抑制者的血浆皮质醇水平显著高于抑制者。然而，抑制者和非抑制者的尿MHPG水平之间未发现差异。DST前血浆皮质醇与尿MHPG排泄水平之间无相关性。这些结果不支持这两个参数之间存在关联的假设。然而，当根据尿MHPG排泄量将抑郁症患者分为两组（“高MHPG”组和“低MHPG”组）时，“高MHPG”组中的非抑制者明显多于“低MHPG”组。这一结果不足以证明HPA系统活性与中枢去甲肾上腺素代谢之间存在联系。
