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Cortisol Feedback Could Be Normal in Major Depression Patients

There is some evidence that patients with major depression do not have abnormal cortisol feedback during the quiescent period in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

United States researchers tested the hypothesis that patients with major depression could have a defect in the mechanism through which cortisol exerts negative feedback on the HPA axis during the axis quiescent period.

They randomly assigned 29 patients with major depression to administration of either 15 milligrams cortisol or placebo. Both were infused over two hours, beginning at 7 p.m. on the study day. A total of 25 healthy comparison subjects were also randomised to either cortisol or placebo.

Investigators measured cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels at baseline and every 30 minutes from 7.30 p.m. to 11.00 p.m.

They report: "Differences between the patients and the comparison subjects in the ACTH response to the cortisol infusion, relative to the ACTH response to placebo, were not found."

Researchers suggest that the results provide "some evidence that patients with major depression do not have an abnormality of cortisol feedback during the HPA axis quiescent period."
American Journal of Psychiatry, 2001; 158: 2083-2085. "Cortisol Feedback During the HPA Quiescent Period in Patients With Major Depression"

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