Ghrelin suppresses nocturnal secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in patients with major depression

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Ghrelin.

Aim of this study was therefore to test the effect of ghrelin on the activity of the HPG and HPT axis in patients with major depression.

Why It Was Studied

Apart from the well-known hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, also the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis and of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis may be altered compared to healthy subjects.

The orexigenic hormone ghrelin is involved in mood regulation and may have antidepressant effects.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 14 patients taking part.

PubMed tags the participants as both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, single-blind and placebo-controlled study.

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

Only one side, usually the patients, was kept unaware of whether Ghrelin was given.

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

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Antidepressive Agents, Area Under Curve, Circadian Rhythm, Major Depressive Disorder, Electroencephalography, Ghrelin and Luteinizing Hormone.

Author keywords: LH, Major depression, TSH and Thyroid stimulating hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, single-blind and placebo-controlled study of Ghrelin in 14 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.

The publication is from 2013 (Journal of psychiatric research), a journal based in England.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.