Hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis dysregulation in depressed women.

In order to examine HPG axis regulation in women with major depression, luteinizing hormone (LH) pulsativity was studied in 26 depressed and 24 normal women. Blood was sampled every 10 min for an 8-h period during the first week of their menstrual cycle. LH pulsatile release was analyzed using the computerized cluster analysis algorithm of Veldhuis and Johnson and spectral analysis. Compared to control women, depressed women had slower frequency dysrhythmic LH pulsatility. These results are consistent with a previously published pilot study which reported results of the first 23 subjects [Am. J. Psychiat. 154 (1997) 1454].