Journal
PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH
Volume 178, Issue 2, Pages 359-362Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2009.09.017
Keywords
Cortisol; HPA axis; Stress; Vasopressin; Oxytocin; Major depression
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD [MH50604, MH66537, RR-00070]
- Pritzker Foundation, New York, NY
Ask authors/readers for more resources
It is well established that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is involved in regulating social behavior, anxiety, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis physiology in mammals. Because individuals with major depression often exhibit functional irregularities in these measures, we test in this pilot study whether depressed subjects (n = 11) exhibit dysregulated OT biology compared to healthy control subjects (n = 19). Subjects were hospitalized overnight and blood samples were collected hourly between 1800 and 0900 h. Plasma levels of OT. the closely related neuropeptide argine-vasopressin (AVP), and cortisol were quantified. Results indicated that depressed subjects exhibit increased OT levels compared to healthy control subjects, and this difference is most apparent during the nocturnal peak. No depression-related differences in AVP or cortisol levels were discerned. This depression-related elevation in plasma OT levels is consistent with reports of increased hypothalamic OT-expressing neurons and OT mRNA in depressed patients. This present finding is likewise consistent with the hypothesis that dysregulated OT biology may be a biomarker of the emotional distress and impaired social relationships which characterize major depression. Additional research is required to elucidate the role of OT in the pathophysiology of this psychiatric disorder. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available