ReviewPsychopharmacology2004
Corticosteroid-serotonin interactions in depression: a review of the human evidence.
Review in Psychopharmacology, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 169 citations in OpenAlex.
- The serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and cortisol stress reactivity: a meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2013Pooled it
- The effects of six-day SSRI administration on diurnal cortisol secretion in healthy volunteers.Psychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Differential effects of 5-HTTLPR genotypes on mood, memory, and attention bias following acute tryptophan depletion and stress exposure.Psychopharmacology · 2009Trial
- Effects of acute tryptophan depletion on affective processing in first-degree relatives of depressive patients and controls after exposure to uncontrollable stress.Psychopharmacology · 2008Trial
- Serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) is associated with post-awakening cortisol measures in previous depression.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Tapping into truth: an exploratory cross-sectional analysis of psychomotor symptoms and typing behaviour in an adolescent observational cohort.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2025Article
- Prenatal Hypoxia Triggers a Glucocorticoid-Associated Depressive-like Phenotype in Adult Rats, Accompanied by Reduced Anxiety in Response to Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Epigenetics of prenatal stress in humans: the current research landscape.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Review
- Long-Term Soft-Food Rearing in Young Mice Alters Brain Function and Mood-Related Behavior.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Occlusal Disharmony-A Potential Factor Promoting Depression in a Rat Model.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Indicators of Immune and Neurohumoral Profile in Women of Fertile Age with Functional Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System Associated with Polymorphic Variants of the HTR2A (rs7997012) and TP53 (rs1042522) Genes.Bulletin of experimental biology and medicine · 2022Article
- No long-term effects of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on epigenetic regulation of stress-related genes.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Increased Levels of Cortisol in Individuals With Suicide Attempt and Its Relation With the Number of Suicide Attempts and Depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Exploring the Contribution of Proximal Family Risk Factors onInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The association of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and the response to different stressors in healthy males.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2021Article
- Neuroendocrine Stress System in Bipolar Disorder.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2021Review
- Cortisol Stress Response and in Vivo PET Imaging of Human Brain Serotonin 1A Receptor Binding.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Article
- The effect of an adverse psychological environment on salivary cortisol levels in the elderly differs byNeurobiology of stress · 2017Article
- Association between Mastication, the Hippocampus, and the HPA Axis: A Comprehensive Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleIt has been suggested that corticosteroid-serotonin interactions are central to the pathophysiology of depression. These interactions have been investigated in healthy and depressed humans, primarily using neuroendocrine techniques.
objectivesTo review the evidence regarding the nature of these interactions in healthy and depressed humans.
methodsElectronic searches were performed for relevant papers, employing MEDLINE and Web of Science. To focus the review, we selected only those articles involving (i) assessment of serotonergic function following experimental manipulation of the HPA axis in healthy volunteers; and (ii) assessment of both serotonergic and HPA axis function in clinically depressed subjects.
resultsPre-treatment with hydrocortisone, both acutely and sub-acutely attenuates the GH response to GHRH in healthy subjects. This complicates the interpretation of 5-HT neuroendocrine studies employing GH output as a measure. In depression there is evidence that reduced availability of l-tryptophan impairs HPA axis feedback. There is also evidence that depressed and healthy subjects may adapt differently both to low tryptophan and hypercortisolaemic challenges. There is no consistent evidence of a simple relationship between HPA axis function and 5-HT function in depression.
conclusionsThe putative reduction in central 5-HT function has not been shown to be a direct consequence of hypercortisolaemia. Rather, the 5-HT system and HPA axis have complex inter-relationships. Challenges to either system, such as stress or reduced dietary tryptophan, may perturb the other and subjects vulnerable to depression may fail to adapt to such challenges.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.