정신질환의 신경내분비 검사

Neuroendocrinological Tests in Psychiatric Disorders

Psychoneuroendocrinology has become a major strategy in psychobiologic research. The foundation of this recent explosion of psychoneuroendocrinological research was laid much earlier, however, by important parallel developments in several fields. The development in the 1960 s o f sensitive assays for pituitary hormones in tiny quantities of peripheral blood made multiple sampling techniques in humans possible. Also, advances in psychoneuroendocrinology have gone far to elucidate the neurotransmitter regulation of the hypothalamic secretions. Neuroendocrinological techniques have been applied successfully to the study of action of psychotropics on the human brain and to the exploration of neurotranmsitter abnormalities possibly underlying hormonal disturbances in psychiatric disorders. Although it has become obvious that all known pituitary hormones are under the control of the central nervous system, this control is still far from being fully understood. However, considerable amount of information exists on the basic substrate of the neuroendocrine system and there is a fair understanding o f some of the phenomena it manifest. In this overview, I tried to examine the dynamics of several major neurohormones that are regulated by neurotransmitters, and to introduce laboratory procedures and methods easily available in clinical practice. Also, a number of results drawn from neuroendocrinological studies regarding the two major psychoses(schizophrenia and mood disorder) are briefly described.