title: Primary early onset dysthymia, biochemical correlates of the therapeutic response to fluoxetine: II. Urinary metabolites of serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine and melatonin.
abstract: The present study investigated pre- and post-treatment 24-h urinary metabolites of monoamines and melatonin as a function of response to treatment in primary early onset dysthymic patients. The main finding was that treatment responders had lower urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels prior to treatment. Following treatment, urinary 5-HIAA tended to be decreased in nonresponders and increased in responders. As well, metanephrine levels were lower and 6-sulphatoxymelatonin levels were higher in responders prior to treatment. These data support the view that there is a biological substrate for certain subgroups of dysthymia, part of which may involve serotonergic systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ravindran
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bialik
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Y D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Lapierre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000652:urine*; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012701:Serotonin / Q000652:urine*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005473:Fluoxetine; D012701:Serotonin; D003404:Creatinine; D008550:Melatonin; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine