HPA AXIS FUNCTION, NEUROIMAGING & ESTROGEN AUGMENTATION IN DEPRESSED WOMEN

这是一项多中心合作研究，旨在描述在抑郁症患者中发现的两种生物异常，即HPA轴过度活动和脑内Mu阿片受体的变化，并探讨这些异常与治疗反应之间的关系。这项研究还在评估一种治疗抑郁症的新方法，即在抑郁女性中增加雌激素。因为治疗研究设计检查了雌激素增加的作用，所以大量的无反应者是必要的。因此，大约一半的受试者将进入这项研究的“仅治疗”部分。由于抗抑郁药物和雌激素都已被证明可以调节实验动物的糖皮质激素受体，我们将检查这两种治疗方法对淋巴细胞受体表达的影响。

This is a multicenter collaborative study that seeks to characterize two biological abnormalities found in depressed patients, that is HPA axis overactivity and changes in mu opioid receptors in brain, in the same patients as well as examine the relationship between these abnormalities and treatment response. The study is also evaluating a novel treatment for depression, estrogen augmentation in depressed women. Because the treatment study design examines the role of estrogen augmentation, a large number of non-responders are necessary. Thus approximately half the subjects will enter a "treatment only" portion of this study. Because both antidepressants and estrogen have been demonstrated to regulate glucocorticoid receptors in experimental animals, we will examine the effects of these two treatments of receptor expression in lymphocytes.