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Urinary-free cortisol in depressed patients and controls: relationship to urinary indices of noradrenergic function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Alec Roy ,
Markku Linnoila ,
Farouk Karoum  and
David Pickar
Alec Roy*
Affiliation:
Section of Clinical Studies, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda; Laboratory of Clinical Studies, DICBR, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda; Adult Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Markku Linnoila
Affiliation:
Section of Clinical Studies, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda; Laboratory of Clinical Studies, DICBR, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda; Adult Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Farouk Karoum
Affiliation:
Section of Clinical Studies, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda; Laboratory of Clinical Studies, DICBR, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda; Adult Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
David Pickar
Affiliation:
Section of Clinical Studies, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda; Laboratory of Clinical Studies, DICBR, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda; Adult Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Alec Roy, Laboratory Clinical Studies, Bldg 10, Rm 3B-19, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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Synopsis

We measured urinary outputs of urinary-free cortisol in 28 medication-free depressed patients and 32 normal controls. Depressed patients had significantly greater urinary outputs of urinary-free cortisol than controls. Also, there were significant correlations among depressed patients, but not among controls, between urinary-free cortisol and urinary outputs of norepinephrine and its metabolite vanillylmandelic acid (VMA). These urinary data extend recent findings suggesting that dysregulation of both the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and noradrenergic system occur together in depression.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 93 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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