SynopsisEmotional disturbance was assessed in a group of women in the first few days following childbirth and again 2 months and 1 year following childbirth; the clinical features are described. Variables such as social class, age and parity were not related to the level of emotional disturbance, but a history of marital problems, sexual difficulties, poor relationships with immediate family or disrupted family relationships in childhood were so related.Twenty-four hour urinary excretion of cyclic AMP (adenosine 3' 5' cyclic monophosphate) was estimated in the same group of women on 2 occasions in the week following childbirth and again 2—3 months later in approximately one third of the original sample. Excretion of cyclic AMP in the few days following delivery was elevated compared with excretion 2—3 months later, and there was a significant rise in urinary excretion of cyclic AMP between the 1st and 2nd urine collections.Those women showing most emotional disturbance on the 3rd day after delivery and women indicating most mood change in the direction of becoming elated had the highest levels of cyclic AMP in the 2nd urine collection.

The use of a competitive protein-binding assay for cyclic AMP, utilizing the binding protein purified from bovine adrenal cortex, for the study of adenylate cyclase activity of the washed 600 g sediment of bovine corpus luteum is validated. A specific assay for cyclic AMP could only be achieved by removal of the degradation products of ATP on a precipitate of nascent BaSO4. Simple dilution of the sample before assay was not sufficient to eliminate interference from degradation products of ATP. An observed variability in optimal ATP substrate and tissue concentrations is though to reflect variability in the enzymic profile of the cyclic corpus luteum. Optima with respect to F-, Mg2+ and pH are more clearly defined and are similar to those reported for adenylate cyclase systems for other tissues.

SUMMARY Judged from the exchange rate between luteal and plasma ascorbic acid there appears to be no compartmentalization of ascorbic acid within the corpus luteum. Evidence is presented to show that the uptake of ascorbic acid into slices of superovulated rat ovary is an energy-dependent process which is inhibited by luteinizing hormone (LH) by means of its stimulatory effect on progesterone synthesis. The results are discussed in relation to the adrenal cortex and methods involving ascorbic acid depletion used in the assay of corticotrophin and LH.

Changes in the excretion of adenosine 3’:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) have been reported in depressive illness. Abdulla and Hamadah (1970) reported that urinary cyclic AMP excretion was lower than normal during depression and increased with recovery. However, these results were based on single 24-hour urine collections during depression and on recovery, with no creatinine estimations to suggest that the collections were complete. There was no control of diet, drugs or activity. The controls do not appear to have been matched for age. Paul, Ditzion, Pauk and Janowsky (1970) reported that the cyclic AMP excretion in neurotic depression was higher and in psychotic depression was lower than in a control group, but neither difference was statistically significant. However, on enlarging the study by including more psychotic depressives they reported that the cyclic AMP excretion of this group was significantly less than that of the controls (Paul, Cramer and Goodwin, 1971). These workers had controlled the patients' drug and dietary (but not fluid) intake. There appeared to be only minimal control of activity. The results were based on approximately two samples of urine per subject, which were very carefully checked for completeness of collection. Unfortunately the age of the controls (19–22 years) was very different from that of the patients (25–64 years). On two small groups of patients treated with either Laevodopa or lithium carbonate, they reported that changes in affective state were accompanied by changes in the urinary excretion of cyclic AMP. However, in serial studies on manic-depressive patients Paul, Cramer and Bunney (1971) failed to show a correlation between mood rating and cyclic AMP excretion in five out of seven patients; but they reported that the cyclic AMP excretion was increased on the day of rapid switch from depression to mania. The above groups of workers had used an enzymatic-isotope displacement technique to estimate the cyclic AMP. Brown, Salway, Albano, Hullin and Ekins (1972), using a saturation method to assay cyclic AMP, found no correlation between mood and cyclic AMP excretion in two short-cycle manic-depressive patients. Jenner, Sampson, Thompson, Somerville, Beard and Smith (1972) wrote: ‘We have measured daily excretion by a number of depressed and manic depressive patients over periods covering several mood changes without being able to establish any consistent correlation between cyclic AMP excretion and mood, … However, in one unusual case we have found a very marked correlation‘. We (Naylor, Dick, Dick, Moody and Stansfield, 1974) were unable to demonstrate any relationship between urinary cyclic AMP excretion and mood in a patient with recurrent psychotic episodes, in which depressive features predominated.