ReviewDepression and anxiety2009
Glucocorticoid inhibition in the treatment of depression: can we think outside the endocrine hypothalamus?
Review in Depression and anxiety, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unpredictable stress boosts perceptual learning and alters glucocorticoid and norepinephrine receptors in rats' dorsal hippocampus.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Glymphatic dysfunction associated with cortisol dysregulation in major depressive disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The microbiota-gut-brain axis in stress and depression.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Norepinephrine and Glucocorticoids Modulate Chronic Unpredictable Stress-Induced Increase in the Type 2 CRF and Glucocorticoid Receptors in Brain Structures Related to the HPA Axis Activation.Molecular neurobiology · 2021Article
- High Cortisol and the Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Review of the Literature.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2019Review
- Functional disruption of stress modulatory circuits in a model of temporal lobe epilepsy.PloS one · 2018Article
- The chronic mild stress (CMS) model of depression: History, evaluation and usage.Neurobiology of stress · 2017Review
- The role of glucocorticoids and corticotropin-releasing hormone regulation on anxiety symptoms and response to treatment.Endocrine connections · 2017Review
- Chronic distress and the vulnerable host: a new target for HIV treatment and prevention?Neurobehavioral HIV medicine · 2016Article
- New hypothesis and treatment targets of depression: an integrated view of key findings.Neuroscience bulletin · 2015Review
- Mifepristone modulates serotonin transporter function.Neural regeneration research · 2014Article
- The neurobiological correlates of childhood adversity and implications for treatment.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2013Review
- Major depression is not associated with blunting of aversive responses; evidence for enhanced anxious anticipation.PloS one · 2013Article
- A CRHR1 haplotype moderates the effect of adverse childhood experiences on lifetime risk of major depressive episode in African-American women.American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics · 2011Article
- An epidemiologic and clinical overview of medical and psychopathological comorbidities in major psychoses.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2011Article
- Inflammation-associated depression: from serotonin to kynurenine.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2011Review
- Early life stress enhancement of limbic epileptogenesis in adult rats: mechanistic insights.PloS one · 2011Article
- Hormone treatment of depression.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2011Review
- Prophylactic Efficacy of Riluzole against Anxiety- and Depressive-Like Behaviors in Two Rodent Stress Models.Complex psychiatryArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMajor depressive disorder affects a substantial percentage of the U.S. population, and can be highly debilitating. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are commonly prescribed to treat depression, but may not be as effective for more severe or persistent depression.
methodsThe authors review data concerning the effects of corticosteroid synthesis inhibitors (CSIs) in the management of depressive disorders, present a hypothesis as to their possible mechanisms of action based on recent data suggesting synergistic effects of glucocorticoids on extrahypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), and consider alternative hypotheses. Published reports evaluating the efficacy of CSIs in treating depression are reviewed and presented in light of recent findings regarding actions of glucocorticoids on the central CRH system.
resultsResults from open label and double-blind studies by several groups have indicated that CSIs may be efficacious or of adjunctive value in some patients with depression, including those refractory to other agents; however, there is a need for more controlled studies. Several lines of data suggest that the mechanism of action of these agents may not be solely a function of inhibition of adrenal cortisol production.
conclusionsThe authors propose that CSIs may be efficacious in part by reducing glucocorticoid enhancement of CRH action in neurons of the central nucleus of the amygdala and other structures outside the endocrine hypothalamus. Possible effects of systemically administered CSIs on glucocorticoid receptor regulation, neuroactive steroids, and classical monoamine systems are also discussed. We conclude that available clinical data suggest a potential role for CSIs in the management of depressive disorders, especially major depression with psychotic features.
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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.