Endocrine Studies on “Endogenous” Psychoses
I. Plasma Growth Hormone and Cortisol Levels during Insulin Tolerance Test in Patients Suffering from Atypical Psychoses
1974 Volume 50 Issue 8 Pages 1176-1186,1162
Details
1974 Volume 50 Issue 8 Pages 1176-1186,1162
Plasma growth hormone (GH), plasma cortisol and blood sugar levels during insulin tolerance test (ITT) were determined in seventeen patients (five male and twelve female, aged 18 to 51 years) suffering from atypical psychoses. Patients were examined during three different clinical states, i.e. the acute confusional state, the depressive state and the remissive state. No common feature as a whole was detected. However, different tendencies were found in each clinical state.
Results are summarized as follows :
1) Plasma GH response to ITT in patients during depression and remission was significantly lower than that of normal subjects. No clearcut tendency, but rather a wide scattering was found in the response of patients in acute confusional states.
2) Plasma cortisol levels during ITT in patients in acute confusional states were significantly higher than those of normal subjects. The levels of patients during depression and remission showed no statistically significant difference from those of normal subjects.
3) No statistically significant difference was found between minimal blood sugar levels of normal subjects and those in patients during each clinical state.
4) Regarded as a whole, no significant correlation was found between minimal blood sugar level and maximal level of plasma GH or cortisol in each patient during ITT, nor was there any between maximal plasma GH and maximal cortisol levels. In each clinical state, however, maximal plasma GH levels were correlated with minimal blood sugar levels negatively during depression and positively after remission. Maximal cortisol levels were negatively correlated with minimal blood sugar levels both during depression and remission. Maximal GH levels and maximal cortisol levels were correlated positively during depression and negatively during remission. No significant correlation was found between any of the parameters during the acute confusional state.
The similarities of the above results to reports of other investigators on depressive patients and acute schizophrenics, as well as those on stressed animals, were discussed.
