title: Spectroscopic correlates of antidepressant response to sleep deprivation and light therapy: a 3.0 Tesla study of bipolar depression.
abstract: Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter of the human brain, and recent findings suggest a role for the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology and treatment of mood disorders. Single proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to study the relative in vivo levels of brain neural metabolites. We evaluated the effect of antidepressant treatments on the relative concentration of unresolved glutamate and glutamine (Glx) with GABA contamination (2.35 ppm peak) using single voxel 1H-MRS at 3.0 Tesla. We studied 19 inpatients (7 males, 12 females) affected by bipolar disorder type I, current depressive episode without psychotic features, before and after 1 week of treatment with repeated total sleep deprivation (TSD) combined with light therapy (LT). Chronobiological treatment caused a significant amelioration in mood levels. Changes in the brain Glx/creatine ratio followed a general trend toward decrease, with individual variability. We observed that the decrease in the Glx/creatine ratio significantly correlated with the improvement of both objective and subjective measures of depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatric Sciences, Scientific Institute and University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. benedetti.francesco@hsr.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernasconi
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cadioli
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dallaspezia
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Falini
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Radaelli
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scotti
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smeraldi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011522:Protons; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D011522:Protons; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D003401:Creatine