Abstract
(1) The hypothalamic tripeptide TRH was injected in normal controls and in schizophrenic, alcoholic and depressed patients. Behavioral and endocrine data were assessed and relationships between the two evaluated. (2) After TRH there was a brief and partial salutary behavioral change in all groups studied, suggesting that the behavioral effects of TRH are not disease specific. (3) A blunted TSH response after TRH was seen in some depressed and some alcoholic patients but not in schizophrenics, indicating that this fault is not simply a nonspecific attribute of mental illness. (4) In depression, but not in alcoholism, the blunting was accounted for by increased levels of serum cortisol. (5) In alcoholic patients, the TSH blunting was related to a favorable behavioral response to TRH. (6) While the relationship between ambient levels of serum cortisol and the TSH response was negative in normal subjects and depressed patients, it was positive in schizophrenic patients. The relative frequency of this finding in the various subtypes of schizophrenia is unknown. (7) The above data, taken together, suggest that both the behavioral and the endocrine effects of TRH render the tripeptide useful for psychoneuroendocrine investigation.
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