Mineralocorticoid receptor function in depressed patients and healthy individuals

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Hinkelmann, Kim Hellmann-Regen, Julian Wingenfeld, Katja Kuehl, Linn Kristina Otte, Christian
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	BACKGROUND Many studies have shown disturbed glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in depressed patients. In contrast, only few studies targeted mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) function with inconclusive results. We examined the effects of the MR antagonist spironolactone on cortisol secretion in depressed patients and healthy individuals. METHODS Forty-eight unmedicated depressed patients (mean age 41.6years) and 45 age- and sex-matched healthy participants (40.7years) received the MR antagonist spironolactone (300mg) or placebo with three days apart in a randomized, double-blind, within-subject cross-over design. We measured salivary cortisol before ingestion of study medication (baseline) as well as +60min, +90min, +120min, +150min and 180min after baseline. RESULTS Repeated-measures ANOVA for area under the curve (AUCg) cortisol revealed a treatment effect with higher cortisol after spironolactone and a treatment by group interaction. Post-hoc analyses revealed higher cortisol in depressed patients compared to healthy participants in the placebo condition. In the spironolactone condition, the cortisol levels were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS Potentially, impaired MR or GR signaling could be responsible for higher cortisol levels in depressed patients in the placebo condition. However, after MR blockade that increased cortisol secretion across groups leading to higher GR occupation, we found no differences between depressed patients and healthy controls. Thus, our results argue for depression-associated alterations in MR signaling rather than disturbed GR-mediated feedback inhibition.
Starting Page	183
Ending Page	188
Page Count	6
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1016/j.pnpbp.2016.08.003
PubMed reference number	27519144
Journal	Medline
Volume Number	71
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/pii/S0278584616301191
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278584616301191?dgcid=api_sd_search-api-endpoint
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2016.08.003
Journal	Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article