آگونیست گیرنده کانالکورتیکوئید، فلوودروکورتیسون، به طور متفاوتی از فعالیت هیپوفیز مغزی آدرنال در افراد دارای افسردگی شدید روانی جلوگیری می کند

Individuals with psychotic major depression compared to healthy control subjects have diminished feedback inhibition of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in response to the mineralocorticoid receptor agonist fludrocortisone. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine HPA axis response to MR stimulation in major depression (with and without psychosis), and only the third study to demonstrate that exogenously administered fludrocortisone can down-regulate the HPA axis in humans.