Growth hormone response to catecholamine depletion in unmedicated, remitted subjects with major depressive disorder and healthy controls.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over).

The researchers investigated whether the human growth hormone (HGH) response to catecholamine depletion differs between fully remitted patients with major depressive disorder and healthy control subjects.

Fourteen unmedicated subjects with remitted major depressive disorder (RMDD) and 11 healthy control subjects underwent catecholamine depletion with oral α-methylparatyrosine (AMPT) in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study.

Who Took Part

The study group was 11 subjects.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) could be set against what happens without it.

Each person switched between Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

The main outcome measure was the serum level of HGH.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Catecholamines, Major Depressive Disorder, Enzyme Inhibitors, Human Growth Hormone, Prolactin, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase and alpha-Methyltyrosine.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) in 11 subjects.

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 clinical psychopharmacology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Exogenous HGH, sermorelin & older GHRPs (why they're passed over) compound page, all human trials.