Trial reportMolecular psychiatry2006
Influence of mirtazapine on plasma concentrations of neuroactive steroids in major depression and on 3alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity.
Trial report in Molecular psychiatry, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
What it found
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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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- DHEA metabolism to the neurosteroid androsterone: a possible mechanism of DHEA's antidepressant action.Psychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) ligands as novel treatment options in depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Exploration of the Possible Relationships Between Gut and Hypothalamic Inflammation and Allopregnanolone: Preclinical Findings in a Post-Finasteride Rat Model.Biomolecules · 2025Article
- The Role of Extrasynaptic GABA Receptors in Postpartum Depression.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Review
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) in depression: implications for synaptic plasticity, cognition, and treatment options.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Review
- Neurosteroid influence on affective tone.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Sex steroid hormones in depressive disorders as a basis for new potential treatment strategies.Physiological research · 2022Review
- Translocator protein (18kDa) TSPO: a new diagnostic or therapeutic target for stress-related disorders?Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- Neurosteroids and Neurotrophic Factors: What Is Their Promise as Biomarkers for Major Depression and PTSD?International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Molecular Mechanism ofFrontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Maternal Distress and Offspring Neurodevelopment: Challenges and Opportunities for Pre-clinical Research Models.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- The role of allopregnanolone in depressive-like behaviors: Focus on neurotrophic proteins.Neurobiology of stress · 2020Article
- Allopregnanolone-based treatments for postpartum depression: Why/how do they work?Neurobiology of stress · 2019Article
- Pathophysiological mechanisms implicated in postpartum depression.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2019Review
- Brexanolone, a neurosteroid antidepressant, vindicates the GABAergic deficit hypothesis of depression and may foster resilience.F1000Research · 2019Review
- Post-finasteride syndrome and post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: two sides of the same coin?Endocrine · 2018Review
- Reproductive Steroid Regulation of Mood and Behavior.Comprehensive Physiology · 2016Review
- The role of reproductive hormones in postpartum depression.CNS spectrums · 2015Review
- GABAA receptor-acting neurosteroids: a role in the development and regulation of the stress response.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Concentrations of 3alpha-reduced neuroactive steroids are altered in depression and normalize after antidepressant pharmacotherapy with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs). We investigated the impact of mirtazapine on the activity of a key neurosteroidogenic enzyme, the 3alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3alpha-HSD), and on the levels of neuroactive steroids in relation to clinical response. A total of 23 drug-free in-patients suffering from a major depressive episode (DSM-IV criteria) underwent 5-week treatment with mirtazapine (45 mg/day). Plasma samples were taken weekly at 0800 and quantified for neuroactive steroids by means of combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. Enzyme activity was determined by assessment of steroid conversion rates. Irrespective of clinical outcome, there were significant increases in 3alpha,5alpha-tetrahydroprogesterone, 3alpha,5beta-tetrahydroprogesterone, 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone, and 5beta-dihydroprogesterone after mirtazapine treatment, whereas 3beta,5alpha-tetrahydroprogesterone levels were significantly decreased. In vitro investigations demonstrated a dose-dependent inhibitory effect of mirtazapine on the activity of the microsomal 3alpha-HSD in the oxidative direction (conversion of 3alpha,5alpha-tetrahydroprogesterone to 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone). Mirtazapine affects neuroactive steroid composition similarly as do SSRIs. The inhibition of the oxidative pathway catalyzed by the microsomal 3alpha-HSD is compatible with an enhanced formation of 3alpha-reduced neuroactive steroids. However, the changes in neuroactive steroid concentrations more likely reflect direct pharmacological effects of this antidepressant rather than clinical improvement in general.
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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.