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Neuropsychopharmacology pp 221–233Cite as

Cortisol Response to Corticotropin Releasing Hormone in Dexamethasone-Pretreated Patients with Depression

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Abstract

Physiological adaption to increased physical or psychological demands is controlled by the central nervous system which coordinates neural and humoral responses that allow the organism to adapt to a stressful condition. Internal and external stimuli are conveyed to the anterior pituitary as a main intermediate target via neurohumoral pathways. The most prominent neurohumor is corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) which acts as major regulator of biosynthesis and secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). The neuropeptide CRH does not act alone, and its effects on ACTH are fine-tuned by many cofactors, of which arginine vasopressin (AVP) is perhaps the most important. In the adrenal cortex ACTH enhances the release of corticosteroids which have widespread effects on brain neurochemistry and therefore on behavior. In depressed patients altered neuroendocrine limbic hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical (LHPA) function is well established (Holsboer 1988). An increased number of ACTH bursts, increased amounts of cortisol per secretory pulse, elevated and time-advanced nocturnal cortisol nadir, and increased LHPA hormone concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid and urine have been repeatedly demonstrated. In addition, numerous function tests, such as LHPA responses to insulin, amphetamine, or dexamethasone (DEX), have proved consistently that LHPA regulation is disturbed in the majority of severely depressed patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Psychiatrie, Universität Freiburg, Hauptstr. 5, 7800, Freiburg, Germany

    F. Holsboer

Authors
  1. U. von Bardeleben
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  2. F. Holsboer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine, 92717, Irvine, CA, USA

    W. E. Bunney Jr. M. D. (Professor of Psychiatry) (Professor of Psychiatry)

  2. Psychiatrische Klinik und Poliklinik, Universität München, Nußbaumstraße 7, 8000, München 2, Germany

    Hanns Hippius  & Gregor Laakmann  & 

  3. Bezirkskrankenhaus Augsburg, Dr.-Mack-Straße 1, 8900, Augsburg, Germany

    Max Schmauss

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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von Bardeleben, U., Holsboer, F. (1990). Cortisol Response to Corticotropin Releasing Hormone in Dexamethasone-Pretreated Patients with Depression. In: Bunney, W.E., Hippius, H., Laakmann, G., Schmauss, M. (eds) Neuropsychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74034-3_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74034-3_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74036-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74034-3

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