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Antidepressant effect detected on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in drug‐naïve female patients with first‐episode major depression
Author(s) -
Kaymak Semra Ulusoy,
Demir Başaran,
Oğuz Kader Karlı,
Şentürk Senem,
Uluğ Berna
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2009.01951.x
Subject(s) - antidepressant , major depressive disorder , depression (economics) , creatine , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , medicine , choline , metabolite , endocrinology , magnetic resonance imaging , anterior cingulate cortex , prefrontal cortex , proton magnetic resonance , psychology , psychiatry , nuclear magnetic resonance , hippocampus , cognition , physics , radiology , amygdala , economics , macroeconomics
Aim: Recent neuroimaging studies support functional and structural alterations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), particularly on the left side in patients with major depressive disorders (MDD). The aim of the present study was to examine the biochemical characteristics of left DLPFC as measured on proton ( 1 H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in patients with drug‐naïve first‐episode MDD and a healthy control group. A second aim was to assess the effect of antidepressant treatment on the metabolites of DLPFC. Methods: Short‐echo single‐voxel 1 H‐MRS was done for the left DLPFC in 17 female drug‐free MDD patients (mean age ± SD, 30.9 ± 6.9 years) and 13 matched control subjects (mean age ± SD, 29.1 ± 6.2 years) and was repeated at 8 weeks following antidepressant treatment. Results: Comparison of baseline values indicated that there were no significant differences in any of the metabolite ratios ( N ‐acetyl aspartate/creatine [NAA/Cr], myoinositol [Ino]/Cr, and choline [Cho]/Cr) between patients and controls. Significant differences were detected between pre‐ and post‐treatment Ino/Cr ratios (0.67 ± 0.13, 0.58 ± 0.22, P = 0.032, respectively), although there was no difference in NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios. Conclusion: Although no significant metabolic alterations exist in female patients with drug‐naïve first‐episode MDD as evaluated on 1 H‐MRS, an increase in Ino/Cr was observed following 8‐week antidepressant treatment. These findings give rise to the possibility that non‐neuronal cells, particularly glial cells that are probably damaged, play a role in the action of antidepressant treatment.