Dopamine function in obsessive compulsive disorder: cortisol response to acute apomorphine stimulation

Central dopaminergic dysfunction has been suggested to be involved in the p athogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In 15 patients with OCD and in 15 age-sex matched controls we evaluated the dopamine (DA) function by measuring the cortisol (CORT) responses to stimulation with the DA agon ist apomorphine (APO). The CORT response to acute saline administration was also measured, to exclude the existence of a pathology of the circadian se cretion of the hormone which could obscure the significance of the CORT res ponse to APO stimulation. Basal levels of CORT were the same in patients an d controls, but the values after saline administration were significantly h igher in patients than in controls. APO stimulation-induced CORT rises were significantly higher in patients than in controls, but when the data after APO were corrected for those after saline, there were no sigificant differ ence between the two groups of subjects. Our data suggest that there are no alterations of the central dopaminergic function connected with the regula tion of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in OCD. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.