Circadian course of body temperature and the excretion of MHPG and VMA in a patient with bipolar depression.

A 38-year old woman with a bipolar affective disorder was examined for 10 days during a serious retarded depression phase and for 10 days during the subsequent symptom -free interval. During depression the MHPG-excretion showed a significantly shorter circadian periodicity of 20.5 hours, whereas the periodicity of body temperature and VMA amounted to 24 hours. During the symptom-free interval the circadian periodicity of all parameters was 24 hours. These results indicated that the depression phase of a bipolar affective disorder in this patient is related to a desynchronization of central NA function with peripheral NA activity and body temperature.