Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:1454-1455
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Luteinizing hormone pulse characteristics in depressed women
WH Meller, KM Zander, RD Crosby and GE Tagatz
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Hospital, Minneapolis 55455-0392, USA.
OBJECTIVE: Luteinizing hormone (LH) pulse characteristics in depressed and
normal women were compared to determine whether hypothalamic dysregulation
in depression extends to the hypothalamic-pituitary- gonadal axis. METHOD:
The subjects were 10 depressed and 13 normal comparison women admitted to a
clinical research center. For each woman, an intravenous line was started
and blood was withdrawn every 10 minutes for 8 hours. Blood samples were
assayed for LH and LH pulse characteristics determined by using the
computerized cluster algorithm of Veldhuis and Johnson. RESULTS: The
depressed women differed significantly from the comparison women in LH
pulse amplitude, rhythmicity, and area under the curve. CONCLUSIONS: Major
depressive disorder is associated with abnormal regulation of luteinizing
hormone. Gonadotropin regulation may provide a hormonal link between major
depressive disorder and impaired fertility.
