Seasonal variation in plasma prolactin response to d-fenfluramine in healthy subjects

Monteleone, Palmiero; Rocca, Antonietta La; Fuschino, Antonio; Bortolotti, Francesca; Maj, Mario

doi:10.1016/s0306-4530(98)00074-2

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Moreover, other sources of variance may also result in differences of study outcomes. For example, time of day [67] or season [68] show differential influence on the outcome of challenge with D-FEN.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endocrine Responses after <i>d</i>-Fenfluramineand Ipsapirone Challenge: Further Support for Cloninger’s Tridimensional Model of Personality

et al. 2000

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The tridemensional model of personality introduced by Cloninger relates aspects of novelty seeking to the dopaminergic, harm avoidance (HA) to the serotonergic, and reward dependence to the noradrenergic neurotransmitter system. Using a neuroendocrine challenge paradigm, this study investigates whether subjects characterized by blunted cortisol (CORT) responses after ipsapirone (IPS) relate to different subfactors of HA from those characterized by blunted prolactin (PRL) responses after treatment with d-fenfluramine (D-FEN). Moreover, subjects blunted in both responses should differ in scale values of subfactors of HA from those with only one or no blunted reactions. In the first part of the experiment, 16 healthy male volunteers were treated with 15 mg D-FEN. The second part of the study (about 1 year later) consists of a challenge with the partial 5-hydroxytryptamine-1a (5-HT_1a) agonist IPS (10 mg) in the same subjects. The results indicate that blunted PRL responses are accompanied by high values in HA, while the main effect of IPS responsivity did not relate significantly to this dimension. With respect to the subscales of HA, subjects blunted in both responses (PRL–/C–) exhibit significantly higher levels in fatigability and asthenia when compared to all other groups (PRL–/C+, PRL+/C–,PRL+/C+). The data demonstrate that combined challenge tests may shed more light on the biological basis of personality and that HA and most clearly fatigability and asthenia relate to the 5-HT system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endocrine Responses after <i>d</i>-Fenfluramineand Ipsapirone Challenge: Further Support for Cloninger’s Tridimensional Model of Personality

et al. 2000

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“…Previous studies have shown that the PRL response to serotonergic probes, such as the 5-HT releaser d-fenfluramine, exhibit significant seasonal variation (Monteleone et al 1999). There was no significant difference between depressed and control groups in the season of the year in which they were tested (c 2 =1.86, df=3, P=0.601).…”

Section: Seasonal Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated prolactin responses to l-tryptophan infusion in medication-free depressed patients

et al. 2003

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These data do not support previous findings of reduced 5-HT1A function in MDD and suggest that hypercortisolaemia or psychotropic medication may have accounted for the attenuation. Basal cortisol, DHEA and the cortiso l-DHEA ratio did not differ between patients and controls, and all patients were psychotropic medication-free. The greater prolactin response to l-tryptophan infusion in depressed subjects may be the result of an increase in dopamine receptor sensitivity, secondary to reduced dopamine levels.

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“…We have found that in healthy volunteers, d,l-fenfluramine evokes a more robust cortisol response, while CMI stimulates a stronger prolactin resonse (Nicholas et al 1996), which probably reflects the different pharmacological properties of each agent interacting with the various pathways leading to the release of each of these neurohormones (Van de Kar et al 1985). While several 5-HT challenge agents appear to be subject to seasonal effects (Brewerton et al 1992;Grossman et al 1996;Monteleone et al 1999), this potential source of variation has not been observed with CMI challenge , which is clearly advantageous in studies which rechallenge individual subjects at various time points over the year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

A Longitudinal Study of Serotonergic Function in Depression

Golden

Heine

Ekstrom

et al. 2002

Neuropsychopharmacology

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Several reports have described abnormal neuroendocrine responses to serotonergic challenge tests in depression, but few have studied depressed patients followed longitudinally. In order to determine whether blunted prolactin responses to clomipramine challenge is a "state" vs. "trait" marker in depression, we applied this challenge paradigm to 20 patients with Major Depression prior to treatment and at three additional time points following response to desipramine: at the completion of acute treatment (Maes and Meltzer 1995). Studies have reported abnormalities in various indirect indices of central serotonergic function in depressed patients, including post-mortem brain concentrations of serotonin (5-HT), its metabolites, and receptors; platelet 5-HT receptors; cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid; and neuroendocrine responses to 5-HT challenge tests (Maes and Meltzer 1995). The induction of clinical relapse in following acute tryptophan depletion in remitted depressed patients who had received treatment with serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (Delgado et al. 1990) suggests that 5-HT may also be involved in the mechanism of action of at least some successful antidepressant treatments, and that the correction of an underlying 5-HT dysfunction is linked to the initiation and maintenance of clinical remission.While there is a substantial body of data linking perturbations in these measures of 5-HT function to depression, it NO . 5 healthy control subjects who have no personal or family history of mood disorders. Differences between these groups of subjects could reflect either state or trait phenomena associated with depression. The most useful approach in distinguishing between these would involve longitudinal studies of depressed patients over the course of treatment and recovery from their illness. Several treatment studies have applied neuroendocrine challenge tests to depressed patients before and after antidepressant treatment, and to date, the results have been inconclusive. Some reports describe enhancement of the characteristically blunted prolactin response to 5-HT challenge in depressed patients following treatment, but this finding is not consistent (O'Keane et al. 1992;Shapira et al. 1989Shapira et al. , 1992Leatherman et al. 1993;Kasper et al. 1990). Others have compared 5-HT neuroendocrine challenge profiles in depressed patients who are receiving antidepressant pharmacotherapy, or who are in a current state of remission, to those of healthy volunteers or untreated patients (Flory et al. 1998;Meltzer et al. 1997). For a variety of practical and pragmatic reasons, it is difficult to reexamine in a longitudinal patient cohort 5-HT indices over the course of the acute and continuation phases of their illness, including a medication-free state of remission. However, this approach offers the greatest opportunity to dissect the trait vs. state nature of 5-HT dysregulation in depression.The clomipramine (CMI) challenge test meets the van Praag et al. (1987) cr...

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Seasonal variation in plasma prolactin response to d-fenfluramine in healthy subjects

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

Endocrine Responses after <i>d</i>-Fenfluramineand Ipsapirone Challenge: Further Support for Cloninger’s Tridimensional Model of Personality

Endocrine Responses after <i>d</i>-Fenfluramineand Ipsapirone Challenge: Further Support for Cloninger’s Tridimensional Model of Personality

Elevated prolactin responses to l-tryptophan infusion in medication-free depressed patients

A Longitudinal Study of Serotonergic Function in Depression

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