SYMPOSIA

Poster Presentations
[PP-081] Ref. No: 308
Ceruloplasmin levels before and after treatment in patients with depression:
A case-control study
Mehmet Cemal Kaya 1 , Yasin Bez 1 , Salih Selek 2 , Haluk Asuman Savaş 3 , Hakim Çelik 2 , Hasan Herken 4
1 Dicle University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Diyarbakir, Turkey
2 Harran University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Sanliurfa, Turkey
3 Gaziantep University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Gaziantep, Turkey
4 Pamukkale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Denizli, Turkey
E-mail: mcemalkaya@yahoo.com
Objective: Ceruloplasmin is a serum protein synthesized by hepatocytes and involved in both copper and iron metabolism. It is an
acute phase reactant and has antioxidant capacity (1). Deficiency of ceruloplasmin is thought to cause neural cell damage secondary to
decreased mitochondrial energy production and increased lipid peroxidation, and iron associated free radicals (2,3). Ceruloplasmin, an
antioxidant agent, has previously been investigated in some psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder
(4). Studies about ceruloplasmin in depression are relatively scarce (5). In this prospective study, we aimed to determine the serum
ceruloplasmin levels of depressive patients before and after treatment, to compare them those of healthy control subjects and to assess
any possible association of ceruloplasmin levels to treatment response.
Methods: Among the admissions to the Psychiatry Outpatients Clinic of Gaziantep University Medical Faculty Hospital 19 (8 males, 11
females) patients who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder according to the DSM-IV criteria and 40 (17 males, 23 females)
healthy control subjects have been included in the study. The patients received naturalistic antidepressant treatment during the 8 weeks
period after the diagnosis. The serum ceruloplasmin levels and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) scores of the patients
were measured before and after the 8 week period of antidepressant treatment. Blood collection for ceruloplasmin measurement was
done only once for the healthy control subjects. The measurement of ceruloplasmin levels was conducted according to the standard
procedures.
Results: The ceruloplasmin levels of patients both before and after antidepressant treatment were significantly higher than those of
control subjects (t=7.569, p