PLASMA NEUROPEPTIDE-Y IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

It has been suggested that neuropeptide Y (NPY) is involved in the pat hophysiology of depression. Plasma peptide-rich fraction from patients with major depressive disorder and control subjects was eluted with h igh performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), followed by radioimmunoa ssay of NPY. The screening patterns of the NPY-like immunoreactivity i n 50 fractions eluted by HPLC from the plasma peptide-rich fraction we re different between the two groups. The values of NPY in the 16 contr ols and the 14 patients were 427 +/- 38 and 310 +/- 27 fmol/ml plasma (P < 0.05), respectively. These results suggest that impaired metaboli sm of plasma NPY and the reduced plasma NPY in patients with major dep ressive disorder could be involved in the pathogenesis or pathophysiol ogy of major depressive disorder.