Psychiatry Investig.  2015 Oct;12(4):538-544. 10.4306/pi.2015.12.4.538.

Neurosteroid Levels in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Erbay LG
• Kartalci S

• KMID: 2391827
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2015.12.4.538

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Changes in serum neurosteroid levels have been reported in stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression, but not in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We thus investigated such changes in patients with OCD.
METHODS
We compared the serum levels of progesterone, pregnanolone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), cortisol and testosterone in 30 patients with OCD and 30 healthy controls.
RESULTS
When male and female patients were evaluated together, DHEA and cortisol levels were significantly higher in patients with OCD than the control group. When the genders were evaluated separately, DHEA and cortisol levels were higher in female patients than the female controls. The increase in DHEA levels in female patients is likely an effect of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. In contrast, cortisol levels in male patients were higher than the control group, while testosterone levels were lower. The increased cortisol and decreased testosterone levels in male patients likely involves the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that neurosteroid levels in patients with OCD should be investigated together with the HPA and HPG axes in future studies.

Keyword

Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Neurosteroid; Gender

MeSH Terms

Anxiety
Axis, Cervical Vertebra
Dehydroepiandrosterone
Depression
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Male
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder*
Pregnanolone
Progesterone
Testosterone
Dehydroepiandrosterone
Hydrocortisone
Pregnanolone
Progesterone
Testosterone