Summary
Twelve severely depressed patients and 13 healthy controls were studied under baseline, metyrapone and metyrapone plus dexamethasone pretreated conditions. Lymphocyte proliferation data were obatained by concanavalin A, phytohaemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) stimulation. There was a decrease in PWM-induced B-cell proliferatin and an increase in inhibition of spontaneous leucocyte proliferation by dexamethasone added in vitro following metyrapone administration in vivo, in healthy controls, which was not present in the depressed patients. These data support the concept of a decreased functional plasticity of the glucocorticoid receptor in depression also at the cellular level.
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Rupprecht, R., Wodarz, N., Kornhuber, J. et al. In vivo and in vitro effects of glucocorticoids on lymphocyte proliferation in depression. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Nuerosci 241, 35–40 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02193752
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02193752