Biomedical subjects

M A Schlesser

Publications and source records attributed to M A Schlesser.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1981

Plasma GABA in affective illness. A preliminary investigation.

Plasma levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were determined in 34 clinically symptomatic patients with diagnosis of affective disorder and in 20 normal controls. Lowest levels were found in patients with familial pure depressive disease and in depression spectrum disease, while levels of patients with sporadic depressive disease, though significantly lower than control, were not as low. Plasma GABA levels in secondary depression and in bipolar depression were similar to control. Bipolar manic patients had plasma GABA levels that were significantly higher than control values.

Bipolar Disorder↗

PubMed1981

Suicide and the dexamethasone suppression test in unipolar depression.

The authors studied 243 inpatients with unipolar depression who had received DSTs. Of 205 patients with primary depression, the 4 who later committed suicide were among 96 with abnormal DST results; 1 patients with secondary depression committed suicide despite a normal DST result. The authors suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysfunction is associated with a type of primary depressive illness that is more likely to involve suicide than are other types.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in depressive illness. Its relationship to classification.

Serum cortisol response to the 1-mg overnight dexamethasone suppression test was studied in 221 depressed patients and 109 nondepressed psychiatric controls. Nonsuppression distinguished patients with primary unipolar depression (65/146) from patients with secondary unipolar depression (0/42) and nondepressed controls (0/109). Furthermore, nonsuppression distinguished the three familial subtypes of primary unipolar depressive illness: familial pure depressive disease (FPDD; 38/50 patients), sporadic depressive disease (SDD; 24/55 patients), and depression spectrum disease (3/41 patients). Moderate elevations in baseline serum cortisol levels were found in FPDD, SDD, and bipolar depression. Medication did not affect the results. The data suggest that the depressive syndrome is composed of separate illnesses, each of which has a distinctive pattern of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity during the depressed state as well as a specific clinical and familial psychiatric history.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1979

Genetic subtypes of unipolar primary depressive illness distinguished by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity.

Serum-cortisol response to the 1 mg overnight dexamethasone suppression test was investigated in 86 patients with unipolar primary depressive illness and 80 non-depressed controls (45 with mania and 35 with schizophrenia). The depressed patients were assigned to one of three genetic subtypes according to the family psychiatric history. Resistance to suppression of serum-cortisol by dexamethasone was found in 37 of 86 (43%) depressives and none of the 80 controls. Non-suppression distinguished the three genetic subtypes of depression, being found in 23 of 28 (82%) patients with familial pure depressive disease (F.P.D.D.), 13 of 35 (37%) patients with sporadic depressive disease (S.D.D.), and 1 of 23 (4%) patients with depression spectrum disease (D.S.D.). The three genetic subtypes were further distinguished by the age of onset, with S.D.D. the oldest, and by the number of previous depressive episodes, with F.P.D.D. the most. Severity of depression did not separate the three subtypes. This is the first report of a distinct neuroendocrine abnormality which supports an objectively defined classification of unipolar primary depressive illness. It is suggested that unipolar primary depressive illness is three or more separate illnesses, each with a potentially distinctive mode of inheritance, pathophysiology, neurochemistry, clinical course, and treatment response.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Alprazolam in bipolar-I depressions.

In an open-label study of alprazolam in five bipolar-I depressed patients, three patients remitted completely, one failed to respond, and one responded transiently, based on the Hamilton Rating Scale and Beck Depression Inventory scores. Further studies of alprazolam as an antidepressant are warranted.

Adult↗