title: Impact of electroconvulsive therapy on magnetoencephalographic correlates of dysfunctional emotional processing in major depression.
abstract: In major depressive disorder (MDD), electrophysiological and imaging studies provide evidence for a reduced neural activity in parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal regions. In the present study, neural correlates and temporal dynamics of visual affective perception have been investigated in patients with unipolar depression in a pre/post treatment design using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Nineteen in-patients and 19 balanced healthy controls passed MEG measurement while passively viewing pleasant, unpleasant and neutral pictures. After a 4-week treatment with electroconvulsive therapy or 4-week waiting period without intervention respectively, 16 of these patients and their 16 corresponding controls participated in a second MEG measurement. Before treatment neural source estimations of magnetic fields evoked by the emotional scenes revealed a general bilateral parietal hypoactivation in depressed patients compared to controls predominately at early and mid-latency time intervals. Successful ECT treatment, as reflected by a decline in clinical scores (Hamilton Depression Scale; HAMD) led to a normalization of this distinct parietal hypoactivation. Effective treatment was also accompanied by relatively increased neural activation at right temporo-parietal regions. The present study indicates dysfunctional parietal information processing and attention processes towards emotional stimuli in MDD patients which can be returned to normal by ECT treatment. Since convergent neural hypoactivations and treatment effects have recently been shown in MDD patients before and after pharmacological therapy, this electrophysiological correlate might serve as a biomarker for objective treatment evaluation and thereby potentially advance treatment options and support the prediction of individual treatment responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany; kbo-Inn-Salzach-Hospital, Wasserburg am Inn, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zwanzger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna Luisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Klahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arolt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Tillmann
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruland
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Gießen-Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zavorotnyy
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biogmagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sälzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domschke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biogmagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, D-48151 Münster, Germany. Electronic address: markus.junghoefer@uni-muenster.de.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Junghöfer
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Biomarker; Depression; Electroconvulsive-therapy; Emotions; Magnetoencephalography; Parietal lobe