Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate and Cortisol Levels in Patients with
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Journal: Psychiatry Investig. 2009 Sep;6(3):204-210. Epub 2009 Jun 23.
Authors: Turan T, Izgi HB, Ozsoy S, Tanriverdi F, Basturk M, Asdemir
A, Besirli A, Esel E, Sofuoglu S.
Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Erciyes University Medical
School, Kayseri, Turkey.
NLM Citation: PMID: 20046396
OBJECTIVE: Mental fatigue, cognitive disorders, and sleep
disturbances seen in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be attributed
to cholinergic deficit. A functional deficiency of cholinergic
neurotransmission may cause the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
hypoactivity seen in CFS. Therefore, we investigated the alterations
in stress hormones such as cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone
sulfate (DHEAS) in CFS patients before and after 4-week
administration of galantamine hydrobromide, a selective
acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and aimed to investigate whether
there are any relationships between the probable hormonal changes and
cholinergic treatment.
METHODS: Basal levels of cortisol and DHEAS were measured in 29
untreated CFS patients who were diagnosed according to Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) criteria and in 20 healthy controls. In the
patient group, four weeks after 8 mg/d galantamine hydrobromide
treatment, cortisol and DHEAS levels were measured again. After the
treatment 22 patients who stayed in study were divided into two
subgroups as responders and nonresponders according to the reduction
in their Newcastle Research Group ME/CFS Score Card (NRG) scores.
RESULTS: Important findings of this study are lower pre-and
post-treatment cortisol levels and in all CFS patients compared to
controls (F=4.129, p=0.049; F=4.803, p=0.035, respectively); higher
basal DHEAS values and higher DHEAS/cortisol molar ratios which were
normalized following four weeks' treatment with 8 mg/d galantamine
hydrobromide in the treatment-respondent group (F=5.382, p=0.029;
F=5.722, p=0.025, respectively).
CONCLUSION: The findings of the decrease in basal DHEAS levels and
DHEAS/cortisol molar ratios normalizing with galantamine treatment
may give some support to the cholinergic deficit hypothesis in CFS.
Note: The full text of this article is available for free at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796068/
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