Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1393-1397
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
The corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test in chronic schizophrenia
A Roy, D Pickar, A Doran, O Wolkowitz, W Gallucci, G Chrousos and P Gold
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.
