Decreased NT-3 plasma levels and platelet serotonin content in patients with hypochondriasis.

OBJECTIVE: Neurotrophins (NT) are a family of closely related proteins, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor, neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5). NTs are deemed to regulate several aspects of neuronal survival, development, and function. Although NTs have been associated to a variety of mental disorders, the potential role of NT alterations in hypochondriasis (HC) has never been investigated. METHODS: In the present study, plasma concentrations of NTs were evaluated in 23 adult patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria for HC and 22 healthy controls. Platelet serotonin (5-HT) content was chosen as a measure of serotonergic function. Hypochondriacal symptoms were assessed using the Whiteley Index of Hypochondriasis (WIH). RESULTS: Plasma NT-3 level (P=.004) and platelet 5-HT (P=.008) were significantly lower in patients with HC compared with controls. Correlation analyses showed that the WIH score was significantly and inversely associated with both NT-3 values (r=-.60, P=.002) and platelet serotonin content (r=-.53, P=.009). We used a multivariate regression model to determine independent predictors of the WIH score. After allowance for potential confounders, plasma NT-3 levels remained the unique independent predictor of the WIH (beta=.003, t=-3.5, P=.003). CONCLUSIONS: Decreased NT-3 concentration, alongside with serotonin dysfunction, may represent a biological correlate of HC.

Plasma lipid levels and psychologic characteristics in men.

Results of several studies suggest that either a reduction in the serum level of total cholesterol level or a persistently low cholesterol level may be associated with an increase in violent deaths. Although there are several possible explanations for these observations, it has been suggested that the cholesterol level could influence various behaviors. We therefore examined the cross-sectional relation of several psychologic characteristics, assessed by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, to levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides among 3,490 men aged 31-45 years who were examined in 1985-1986. (All men had served in the US Army between 1965 and 1971). Compared with that of other men, the mean total cholesterol level was 5 mg/dl higher among 697 men diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (possibly because of increased catecholamine levels) and 7 mg/dl lower among 325 men with antisocial personality disorder (p < 0.01 for each association). These differences could not be attributed to education, relative weight, cigarette smoking, use of various medications, or other potential confounders. In contrast, cholesterol levels were not significantly associated with major depression or hostility; levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides were not related to any diagnosis. If the serum level of total cholesterol is found to be predictive of antisocial personality disorder in longitudinal analyses, this association may have implications for cholesterol-lowering recommendations.

[Hormone content of the blood in neurotic patients]. / Soderzhanie nekotorykh gormonov v krovi u bol'nykh nevrozami.

Radioimmunoassay was applied to study the hormones (corticotropin, cortisol, T3, T4, testosterone, prolactin, follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones) in 52 male neurotic patients and 120 healthy donors in Arkhangelsk city, as compared to latitudinal mean values. In patients, prolactin, cortisol, thyroid hormones and gonadotropins were increased by 82.7%, 48.7%, 41%, 52.6%, respectively. Patients also had lower production of ACTH, higher blood contents of T3, prolactin and testosterone. Unidirectional shifts were detected in hormonal systems of neurotic patients, with respect to the time of the disease onset and the duration of last exacerbation: ACTH secretion increased with reduced response of adrenal cortisol production, compensatory increase in thyroid functions, redistribution of gonadotropic fractions increasing the FSH/LH ratio, decrease in testosterone production. At the initial stages prolactin secretion increased to reach later its plateau.

[Neurotic triad and change in blood platelet number in reaction to stress]. / La triade névrotique et la modification du nombre de plaquettes sanguines en réaction au stress.

Blood platelet count is evaluated three times in reaction to catheterization stress in a group of 21 myocardial infarction patients and a group of 21 non-coronary subjects. Coronary and non-coronary patients are divided in two groups according to their low or high results at the psychological scales (hypochondria, depression, hysteria of the M.M.P.I.). The group of non-coronary patients with low results in hypochondria, depression and in the sum of the three psychological scales presents a lower platelet count than the other groups. The non-coronary subjects with high psychological results have the same platelet count as the coronary patients with high or low values.