title: Is platelet imipramine binding reduced in depression? A meta-analysis.
abstract: Although it has been suggested that decreased platelet imipramine binding may be a putative biological marker of depressive illness, a number of studies have not confirmed this finding, including a recent multicenter investigation by the World Health Organization (Mellerup and Langer 1990). We performed a meta-analysis of published reports on imipramine binding in groups of depressed and healthy control subjects and found that there was a highly significant decrease in Bmax (maximal binding) values in the depressed subject groups, which was even greater among those who had been free of medication for 4 weeks at the time of investigation. This finding remained highly significant even when only high affinity binding studies (Kd < 1 nmol/L) were considered, although the absolute size of this decrease was smaller.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Wellington School of Medicine, New Zealand.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salmond
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007099:Imipramine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin; D012701:Serotonin; D007099:Imipramine