Roy A, Pickar D, Paul S, Doran A, Chrousos G P, Gold P W
Am J Psychiatry. 1987 May;144(5):641-5. doi: 10.1176/ajp.144.5.641.
The authors studied CSF corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and plasma cortisol in 22 depressed patients and 18 normal control subjects. CRH levels were similar in the two groups. Depressed patients who were nonsuppressors on the dexamethasone suppression test had significantly higher levels of CRH than suppressors did. The depressed patients' CRH levels were significantly correlated with 4:00 p.m. postdexamethasone plasma cortisol levels. While the inclusion of a depressed patient with an outlier CRH value resulted in the loss of statistical significance for both of these findings, the authors suggest that these results support the hypothesis that hypercortisolism in depressed patients in part reflects a defect at or above the hypothalamus, resulting in hypersecretion of CRH.
作者对22名抑郁症患者和18名正常对照者的脑脊液促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）和血浆皮质醇进行了研究。两组的CRH水平相似。地塞米松抑制试验中无抑制反应的抑郁症患者的CRH水平显著高于有抑制反应的患者。抑郁症患者的CRH水平与地塞米松试验后下午4点的血浆皮质醇水平显著相关。虽然纳入一名CRH值异常的抑郁症患者导致这两项发现均失去统计学意义，但作者认为这些结果支持以下假设：抑郁症患者的高皮质醇血症部分反映了下丘脑或下丘脑以上部位的缺陷，导致CRH分泌过多。
