Elevated Concentrations of CSF Corticotropin-Releasing Factor--Like Immunoreactivity in Depressed Patients

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 226; no. 4680; pp. 1342 - 1344
• Main Authors: Nemeroff, Charles B., Widerlöv, Erik, Bissette, Garth, Walléus, Helena, Karlsson, Ingvar, Eklund, Kurt, Kilts, Clinton D., Loosen, Peter T., Vale, Wylie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC The American Association for the Advancement of Science 14-12-1984; American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: ACTH; Adult; Aged; Antiserum; Biological and medical sciences; Cerebrospinal fluid; Corticotropin; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone - cerebrospinal fluid; Dementia; Dementia - cerebrospinal fluid; Depression (Mood disorder); Depression, Mental; Depressive Disorder - cerebrospinal fluid; Depressive disorders; Female; Humans; Hyperactivity; Hypersecretion; Major depressive disorder; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Physiological aspects; Psychiatric hospitals; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Radioimmunoassay; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - cerebrospinal fluid; Sheep; Techniques and methods; Human; Clinical test; Hypothalamohypophysoadrenal axis disorders; ACTH-RH; Peptide hormone; Biological marker; Depression; Cerebrospinal fluid; Biological psychiatry; Affective disorder; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III; Immunology; Hormonal investigation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.6334362

The possibility that hypersecretion of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) contributes to the hyperactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis observed in patients with major depression was investigated by measuring the concentration of this peptide in cerebrospinal fluid of normal healthy volunteers and in drug-free patients with DSM-III diagnoses of major depression, schizophrenia, or dementia. When compared to the controls and the other diagnostic groups, the patients with major depression showed significantly increased cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of CRF-like immunoreactivity; in 11 of the 23 depressed patients this immunoreactivity was greater than the highest value in the normal controls. These findings are concordant with the hypothesis that CRF hypersecretion is, at least in part, responsible for the hyperactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis characteristic of major depression.