Cortisol suppression per nanogram per milliliter of plasma dexamethasone in depressive and normal subjects

Abstract

It has been suggested that dexamethasone pharmacokinetics may affect cortisol suppression during the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST). In depressed patients the cortisol response has been shown to negatively correlate with dexamethasone plasma concentrations, which also influence the sensitivity and specificity of the DST. These findings have been interpreted as weakening the utility of the DST. However, the analysis of pre- and post-1 mg DST cortisol concentrations corrected for plasma dexamethasone concentrations suggest that compared with normals (n = 52), patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) as a group (n = 71) had less suppressibility of cortisol to the same plasma dexamethasone concentrations. Moreover, when the MDD patients were evaluated based on DST status, the suppressors had cortisol/dexamethasone ratios (micrograms/dl of cortisol per ng/ml of plasma dexamethasone) similar to the normal controls, whereas the nonsuppressors had ratios that were significantly higher. These data suggest that DST non-suppression, as well as sensitivity and specificity of the DST in depression, is not only attributable to altered dexamethasone disposition, but indeed, there is a genuine reduced sensitivity of cortisol to dexamethasone that still points to an abnormality of the delayed feedback mechanism of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system in some depressed patients.