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Biomedical subjects

M Arato

Publications and source records attributed to M Arato.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Associations among dexamethasone non-suppression and TRH-induced hormonal responses: increased specificity for melancholia?

TRH-induced thyrotropin (TSH), prolactin (PRL), and growth hormone (GH) responses were investigated together with a dexamethasone suppression test in female psychiatric inpatients with major melancholic depression (n = 21), schizophrenic disorder (n = 20), alcohol dependence (n = 11), and adjustment disorder with predominantly depressed mood (n = 13), as well as in 15 healthy women. Abnormal responses for all four endocrine variables were noted most frequently in melancholia; however, a significant number of the non-depressed patients also had abnormal hormonal responses in the individual test. The association of two or three abnormalities proved to be quite specific for the melancholic group. There were no statistically significant differences in TRH-induced TSH responses among the patient subgroups. Non-suppression of cortisol after dexamethasone was associated with blunted TSH-responses only in melancholia. There was a tendency for non-suppressor schizophrenics to show more abnormal GH-responses to TRH administration.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1985

Dexamethasone suppression and multiple hormonal responses (TSH, prolactin and growth hormone) to TRH in some psychiatric disorders.

Baseline and TRH-induced changes of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), prolactin (PRL), and growth hormone (GH) were measured in 15 healthy control subjects and 63 psychiatric inpatients with DSM-III diagnoses of major depression (n = 19), schizophrenic disorder (n = 20), alcohol dependence (n = 10), and adjustment disorder (n = 14); baseline and postdexamethasone cortisol (CS) were also determined 3-6 days after the TRH-challenge. All patients and controls were women of similar mean age, weight, height, and they were free from interfering illness or drugs. Baseline TSH and PRL were lower in depression, TRH-induced TSH and PRL responses were lower in the whole patient group, but most markedly in depression and alcohol dependence. Postdexamethasone CS was significantly higher in depression, schizophrenia and alcohol dependence. Basal GH did not differentiate the subgroups; TRH-induced pathological GH responses were sometimes found in the patient groups. The differences were most marked quantitatively in major depression: a multivariate analysis of variance showed that delta TSH, postdexamethasone CS and delta PRL were the most important variables in separating patients from controls. A discriminant function derived from these variables classified all controls and 18 of 19 depressed patients correctly; however, 25 of the 44 other patients were also classified with depression. It was confirmed that psychiatric patients show significantly more endocrine disturbances than controls, and this was seen not only in major depression but also in at least three other conditions. Further work is needed to identify other neuroendocrine patterns more specific to depressive disorder.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1985

Investigations of melatonin secretion in man.

Overnight melatonin secretion shows substantial and significant intraindividual stability and large interindividual variation. Melatonin concentrations obtained between 1 and 5 a.m. significantly correlate with overall melatonin secretion (expressed as the area under the curve) while a single determination of serum melatonin does not adequately reflect the entire night secretion. Secretion correlates positively with "neuroendocrine responsiveness" (rating responses in other neuroendocrine challenge tests) and there is trend for negative correlation with age. In volunteers the administration of the usual therapeutic dose of lithium did not alter the overnight melatonin secretion. However, there was an elevation of isolated secretory values at the early morning timepoints. In comparison with volunteers, lithium administration tended to reduce the overnight melatonin secretion in bipolar patients, however, the difference did not reach statistical significance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

TRH-induced hormonal responses: the effect of pizotifene and naloxone.

We examined the effects of the serotonin antagonist pizotifene (4 mg daily for 3 days orally), and the opiate antagonist naloxone-HCI (0.8 mg intravenously) on the TRH-induced thyrotropin (TSH), growth hormone (GH), and prolactin (PRL) response in female psychiatric inpatients with adjustment disorder or alcohol abuse. All the patients were free from interfering endocrine and metabolic illness and had not received major psychotropic medication before the investigation. Pizotifene caused a small but significant decrease of the TRH-induced TSH response in 8 patients, two of them changed their responses from normal (i.e. above 5 mU/l) to blunted. Neither GH nor PRL changed significantly after pizotifene. Naloxone-HCI, 30 min before the TRH challenge, did not produce any significant change in the TSH, GH or PRL responses, nor did it cause any significant change in the plasma level of these hormones by itself. The hormonal responses to TRH remained unaltered in ten other patients who had repeated tests without any drug treatment between the two occasions. The results suggest that serotonin deficiency may play a role in the blunted TSH response to TRH, while opiate mechanisms do not appear to have a primary influence on these endocrine effects of TRH.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1984

Effects of lithium, nortriptyline and dexamethasone on insulin sensitivity.

The effects of lithium, dexamethasone, nortriptyline and their combinations on insulin sensitivity, expressed as a drop of plasma glucose in response to insulin challenge, were investigated in healthy volunteers. Short-term (three weeks) lithium treatment did not appear to exert any influence on the insulin sensitivity. Dexamethasone administered alone (2 mg given 57 hours prior to the test) had no effect on the insulin sensitivity of drug-free healthy subjects. However, after three weeks of lithium treatment the dexamethasone premedication resulted in slight flattening of glucose response to insulin in the same persons. Nortriptyline administered for three weeks to healthy volunteers, pretreated with dexamethasone, increased insulin sensitivity. These findings may have clinical implications regarding the treatment of depressed diabetic patients, and may provide information about the regulation of insulin sensitivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Prediction of response to stabilizing lithium treatment.

As lithium has a wide range of biological effects, it is not surprising that the benefit from lithium treatment has been observed in several types of psychiatric disorders. Mood stabilization has been seen in episodic disorders; antiaggressive effect has been reported in mental retardation and other illnesses, and some endocrine and hematological effects have been utilized in internal medicine and neurology. To date, however, only the stabilizing effect on recurrent mood disorders appears to be reliably predictable. The prediction is based primarily on the diagnosis, quality of free interval and frequency of episodes; and several associated indicators can also be helpful. Results of the presented series of studies on the response to stabilizing lithium treatment suggest that such a response is predictable for most patients. The epitome of an excellent lithium responder is a patient with a good quality of remissions, a moderate frequency of recurrences, and a diagnosis of primary affective disorder. If the MMPI profile taken at the patient's optimum is abnormal, the chances of stabilization on lithium alone are greatly reduced. In addition, the responders more frequently have a family history of primary affective disorder and a positive M antigen. It appears that in the present practice the assessment of patients for stabilizing lithium treatment may frequently not be comprehensive enough. As a result, lithium is at present probably overprescribed in North America, and possibly elsewhere as well.

Bipolar Disorder↗