LOW-LEVELS OF MHPG IN DEPRESSIVE SPECTRUM PATIENTS

There is some preliminary laboratory support for the proposed classifi cation of depressed patients into depressive spectrum disease (DSD) an d non-DSD. This study explores whether there is a difference in the le vels of the norepinephrine metabolite, MHPG, in DSD and non-DSD patien ts. MHPG levels from 38 DSD patients were compared with 24 non-DSD pat ients. After controlling for the influence of age and gender on MHPG, the DSD patients had MHPG levels that were lower than non-DSD patients ; 1655 +/- 90 mg/day vs. 1965 +/- 174 mg/day, respectively; P = 0.05. This study provides additional laboratory support for the DSD subtype. Possible implications of this finding are discussed.