Depression in Parkinson's disease is not accompanied by more corticotropin-releasing hormone expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus

Background: Depression is frequently encountered in Parkinson's disease (PD). III addition, more than half of the PD patients have a disturbed dexamethasone suppression rest, which is associated with increased activity of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons. We recently found an increase in CRH neuron number; CRH-messenger RNA, and vasopressin colocalization in CRH neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of depressed patients, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of depression, Methods: The number of neurons expressing CRH was determined in the PVN of 6 depressed PD patients with a high score (greater than or equal to 13) on the Hamilton Depression Raring Scale, 6 nondepressed PD patients, and 6 controls. Results: The three groups did not differ in the number of neurons expressing CRH. Conclusions: We hypothesize that activation of CRH neurons in the PVN, as we recently observed in idiopathic depression, does nor play an essential role in depression in PD. (C) 1998 Society of Biological Psychiatry.