[Features of cerebral-somatic and metabolic shifts in older patients with depressive states].

The age-related features of the sympatheticoadrenal homeostatic system identified in healthy subjects affect the pathogenesis and the clinical picture of depressions in old age. Sympatheticotonia , the stimulation of catecholamine synthesis, particularly of noradrenaline synthesis, contribute to the development of anxiety and agitation states in manic-depressive patients. Patients with involutional depression are characterized by the heterogeneous pattern of the functional changes in the body. This feature differentiates the above disorder from manic-depressive psychosis. Despite the anxiety affect, the patients mostly exhibit the synchronous EEG and the absence of any changes in blood and urinary noradrenaline. The central and peripheral changes in atherosclerotic depression reflect the on-going pathological process.