Intra- and inter-individual correlations between cholecystokinin and corticotropin-releasing hormone concentrations in human cerebrospinal fluid

Despite strong evidence of a physiologic relationship between cholecystokin in (CCK) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the mt central nervou s system (CNS), evidence of such a relationship between the two hormones in the human CNS is lacking. A post hoc analysis of serial concentrations of immunoreactive CCK and CRH, obtained every ten minutes from CSF continuousl y collected over six hours, was performed. A total of 30 subjects were stud ied: 15 normal volunteers, 10 patients with major depression, and 5 recentl y-abstinent, alcohol-dependent patients. Overall, we observed an average in tra-subject correlation of +.273 (P < 0.001) between CSF CRH and CCK. Inter subject correlations between mean CSF levels of CRH and CCK were +.948 (P = 0.0001) and +.959 (P = 0.005) in the depressed and abstinent alcoholic pat ients, respectively. These inter-individual correlations were significantly greater than that seen within the group of normal volunteers (r = +.318, n .s). The present data suggest that interactions between CCK and CRH are sig nificant in the human CNS, particularly perhaps in depressed and alcoholic patients, and that CSF samples may be used to assess elements of the relati onship between these hormones. Published 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.dagger.