| [Background]Major depression is a severe, chronic clinical syndrome that having high rates of prevalence and relapse. It has become a heavy burden to the society, but the pathogenesis of such disease was remained unknown nevertheless. At the present time, most mechanisms of depression are focusing on the neurobiochemical changes in the brain. Many researchers considered the disturbances in neurotransmitters, ie serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine as the fact that lead to depressive disorders. And for this reason, many antidepressants were developed in order to regulate the level of different neurotransmitters in the brain. However, the limitations of antidepressants in releasing depressive symptoms immediately and completely, and also, the phenomena that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and enhancer, eg tianeptine, contradict each other in sense of mechanism but are both showing antidepressive effects, have suggested that the catecholamine hypothesis isnot the only possible mechanism of depression. During the recent years, a great number of studies concerning neurobiology and psychopharmacology had been carried out, several advancements were achieved, more and more evidences were showing that the etiology of depressive disorders and mechanism of action of antidepressants were complicated matters. Many changes in the neurotransmitting substances and pathway of the brain were involved, but no final conclusion respecting the pathogenesis of depression has yet been confirmed.In human and mammals, thyroid hormone is indispensable to normal growth, especially for the development of brain. Thyroid hormone not only affects the development of central nervous system, but also regulates the activity of a mature nervous system. The hypothyroidism was always accompanied by depressed mood, and this brought many researchers to explore the relation between depression and thyroid function. Studies concerning the thyroid function in depressive patients had been started fifty years ago, but the results were inconsistent and had been analyzed in distinct aspects. In present study, we are trying to investigate the serum level of thyroid hormones in depressive patients before and after the treatment of antidepressant to find out the changes due to medication. We will also study the relation between the serum level of thyroid hormone and the factors score of measuring scale before treatment. We aim to find out the effect of thyroid hormone in the etiology, pathology, clinical features, and treatment of depressive disorders. [Objective]We study the thyroid function in three aspects, ie the serum level of thyroid hormones in depressive patients, the relation between the serum level of thyroid hormone and the factors score of measuring scale, and the changes in serum level of thyroid hormone due to treatment of antidepressant, to find out the effect of thyroid hormone in the etiology, pathology, clinical features, and treatment of depressive disorders.[Subjects and Methods]Between September of 2004 and March of 2005, 30 in-patients treated in the Department of Mental Health of The First Affiliated Hospital of the College of Medicine of Zhejiang University, met the diagnostic criteria of depressive disorder in CCMD-3 were recruited as the subject of the study. Patient with severe somatic problems or endocrinology disorders, and patient who has taken antipsychotics or antidepressants within the two weeks prior to treatment in hospital will be excluded. The control was formed by 30 healthy persons without any identified somatic problem or endocrinology disorder. Bloods were drawn from the ulnar vein of every subject at 6 AM and sent for mensuration of serum level of TT4, TT3, FT4, FT3, and TSH using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. All depressive patients have the blood tested before the treatment and at the end of 4th week after treatment, while the control has the blood tested for only once. All patients were evaluated by two physicians using Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA). All patients...
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