The Role of Growth Hormone in Depression: A Human Model

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Kalman Kovacs¹  Fabio Rotondo¹  John Lee²  Mubarak Algahtany³  Irene Vanek⁴  Michael D. Cusimano⁴  Shubham Sharma⁵  Rowan Jing⁶  Stanley Zhang⁷  Khalid Fahoum⁸ 

[1] Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, St. Michael Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, St. Michael Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia;Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, St. Michael Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;Faculty of Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada;Indicator Research and Development Department, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Toronto, ON, Canada;Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada;Weil Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States;

关键词: acromegaly;    depression;    growth hormone;    human;    transsphenoidal surgery;    neuropeptides;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnins.2021.661819

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAlthough the relationship between acromegaly and depression has been ascribed to the effects of chronic disease, the role of growth hormone (GH), and insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is not clear.ObjectiveTo determine whether related hormones levels in acromegalics are correlated with depressive symptoms and whether these symptoms are ameliorated following surgery.Materials and MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted on patients diagnosed with acromegaly (n = 15) or non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA; n = 20, as controls) and undergoing first-time surgery, who completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) questionnaire both pre-surgery and post-surgery. The primary outcome was the patient’s severity of depression symptomatology using the CES-D score; GH, IGF-1 levels, and tumor characteristics were also measured.ResultsHormone levels (GH and IGF-1) and depression scores in acromegaly patients showed significant reductions following surgery (p < 0.05). The average change in CES-D score was 5.73 ± 2.58 (mean ± SE). A moderate correlation was found between GH levels and CES-D scores (r = 0.52, p < 0.01). The depressed affect subscale accounted for the most improvement in CES-D scores postoperatively and correlated most highly with GH levels. We did not find similar declines in the matched cohort of NFPA patients.Conclusion and RelevanceSurgical resection of the pituitary tumor in acromegaly patients leads to reduction in GH levels that is correlated with reduction in CES-D scores. The results suggest a role for GH in depression and provide a stronger foundation on which to build the hypothesis that GH impacts affect. The study also suggests that hormones should be factored into the matrix that entails the neuro-biological underpinnings of depressive disorders. Future work could explore the mechanisms involved, further brain and neuropeptide interactions, and, novel potential therapeutic targets in depressive and other mental health disorders.

【 授权许可】

Unknown