Intravenous administration of the neuropeptide galanin has fast antidepressant efficacy and affects the sleep EEG.
OBJECTIVE
Recently, we demonstrated that the intravenous administration of the neuropeptide galanin acts on the sleep EEG of healthy young subjects similar to sleep deprivation. As this effect could imply an antidepressive potency we studied the effect of intravenous galanin administration on psychopathology and sleep EEG in patients with depression.


METHODS
Galanin was administered to 10 patients with depression, who were on a stable dose of trimipramine. A placebo controlled double blind randomized design was used. Intravenous boli of galanin in a dose of 4 x 50 microg or placebo were administered hourly between 09:00 and 12:00 h. Galanin or placebo, respectively were administered on 2 days each. The sequence of the galanin or placebo days was randomized, allowing for various crossovers. The Hamilton depression rating scale score (HAMD) was performed 30 min before the first and 30 min after the last injection. The mean of the HAMD change between 08:30 and 12:30 h was chosen as primary efficacy variable. Sleep EEGs were recorded once post placebo treatment and once post verum treatment. In this case, recordings started at 23:00 h and ended at 07:00 h the next morning.


RESULTS
The HAMD-difference between 08:30 and 12:30 h was significantly greater at the days of galanin-treatment compared to placebo-treatment. MANOVA revealed a significant change in sleep-EEG parameters (p < 0.05), mainly due to an increase in REM-latency (p < 0.06).


CONCLUSIONS
The data provide preliminary evidence for an acute antidepressive efficacy of galanin, probably by a mechanism related to that of therapeutic sleep deprivation.
Murck
Harald
H
Department of Psychiatry, Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 10, D-80804 Munich, Germany.
Held
Katja
K
Ziegenbein
Marc
M
Künzel
Heike
H
Holsboer
Florian
F
Steiger
Axel
A
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D019004:Galanin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000187:drug effects; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000139:chemically induced*; D014299:Trimipramine / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D014299:Trimipramine; D019004:Galanin