Sensitivity to cholecystokinin-tetrapeptide in major depression

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Cholecystokinin (CCK), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Sensitivity to the panicogenic effects of cholecystokinin-tetrapeptide (CCK-4) is enhanced in panic disorder patients relative to normal controls (NC).

In the present study, the researchers determined whether sensitivity to CCK-4 is enhanced in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with no history of panic attacks.

Who Took Part

The study group was 4 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Cholecystokinin (CCK) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Cholecystokinin (CCK) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Cholecystokinin (CCK) group a baseline to be compared against.

The study used a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Major Depressive Disorder, Gastrointestinal Agents, Panic Disorder, Receptors, Drug, Surveys and Questionnaires and Tetragastrin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Cholecystokinin (CCK) in 4 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (Journal of affective disorders), a journal based in Netherlands.

More context: the Cholecystokinin (CCK) compound page, all human trials.