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Abstract
Elevated ratings of anxiety and agitation in Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST)
nonsuppressors suggest a role for psychological stress in the generation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
cortical (HPAC) abnormalities characteristic of depression. We employed the learned
helplessness model of depression to test the effectiveness of psychological stress
in inducing a resistance of plasma corticosterone levels to dexamethasone suppression.
Inescapably shocked rats exhibited corticosterone levels that were significantly more
resistant to dexamethasone suppression than were the levels of rats receiving an equivalent
amount of escapable shock or no shock. These results confirm the hypothesis that HPAC
resistance to dexamethasone suppression is enhanced by the distress associated with
the inefficacy of behavioral coping responses. The present findings represent the
first analog of the DST in the learned helplessness model of depression. This DST
model allows investigations into neurobiological mechanisms underlying the HPAC alterations
in depression.
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
May 9,
1987
Received:
January 29,
1987
Footnotes
☆Supported in part by a Biomedical Research Grant to E.Z. and a University of California Senate Research Grant to T.R. M. Portions of this research were presented at the 1986 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.
Identification
Copyright
© 1988 Published by Elsevier Inc.
