During a drug-free period a group of schizophrenic subjects (N = 9)
showed normal mean basal plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in association
with normal plasma ACTH and cortisol responses to an infusion of
corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Administration of fluphenazine had
no effect on basal ACTH and cortisol levels or their responses to CRH (N =
8). These data differ from those previously reported in depressed patients,
who showed elevated basal cortisol values in association with a blunted
ACTH response to CRH, and add to a growing body of literature which
suggests that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal regulation is less disturbed
in schizophrenia than in depression.
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