title: Inositol treatment has no effect on the dexamethasone suppression test.
abstract: The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) is a widely studied state marker for endogenous depression. Several drugs cause false positives or negatives in this test. Since inositol is a new treatment for depression it is important to determine if it causes artifacts in the DST. Five patients with major depression diagnosed according to DSM-IV underwent a dexamethasone suppression test before and after one and two weeks of 12 grams daily inositol treatment. Three normal subjects underwent the same procedure before and after one week of inositol treatment. Four depressed patients and all three normal subjects demonstrated pretreatment dexamethasone suppression of plasma cortisol. One or two weeks of inositol treatment had no effect on post-dexamethasone cortisol plasma levels in patients or subjects. One depressed patient was a non-suppressor before treatment and continued to show elevated post dexamethasone cortisol levels after one week of inositol treatment. However, after two weeks on inositol, when substantial clinical improvement was noted, he converted to a normal DST. Chronic inositol treatment does not seem to induce false positive DST results.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Belmaker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D007294:Inositol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007294:Inositol; D003907:Dexamethasone; D006854:Hydrocortisone