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Catecholamine Metabolism, Depression and Stress

Abstract

IN recent years, the catecholamine hypothesis for affective or emotional disorders has gained considerable currency1–3. According to this hypothesis some, if not all, states of mental depression may be associated with a deficiency in norepinephrine (NE) at functionally important receptor sites in the brain. We have assayed the products of catecholamine metabolism that appear in the urine of patients in the hope of obtaining information about catecholamine disposition in the affective disorders.

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MAAS, J., DEKIRMENJIAN, H. & FAWCETT, J. Catecholamine Metabolism, Depression and Stress. Nature 230, 330–331 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230330a0

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