Early improvement as a resilience signal predicting later remission to antidepressant treatment in patients with Major Depressive Disorder: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Early improvement of depressive symptoms during the first two weeks of antidepressant treatment has been discussed to be a resilience signal predicting a later positive treatment outcome in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However, the predictive value of early improvement varies between studies, and the use of different antidepressants may explain heterogeneous results. The objective of this review was to assess the predictive value of early improvement on later response and remission and to identify antidepressants with the highest chance of early improvement. We included 17 randomized controlled trials investigating early improvement in 14,779 adult patients with MDD compar…
Early life adversity targets the transcriptional signature of hippocampal NG2+ glia and affects voltage gated sodium (Nav) channels properties
The precise mechanisms underlying the detrimental effects of early life adversity (ELA) on adult mental health remain still elusive. To date, most studies have exclusively targeted neuronal populations and not considered neuron-glia crosstalk as a crucially important element for the integrity of stress-related brain function. Here, we have investigated the impact of ELA, in the form of a limited bedding and nesting material (LBN) paradigm, on a glial subpopulation with unique properties in brain homeostasis, the NG2+ cells. First, we have established a link between maternal behavior, activation of the offspring's stress response and heterogeneity in the outcome to LBN manipulation. We furth…
Early onset of depression and treatment outcome in patients with major depressive disorder
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly heterogeneous disorder, which may partly explain why treatment outcome using antidepressants is unsatisfactory. We investigated the onset of depression as a possible clinical marker for therapy response prediction in the context of somatic biomarkers blood pressure and plasma electrolyte concentration. 889 MDD patients were divided into early (EO, n = 226), intermediate (IO, n = 493), and late onset (LO, n = 169) patients and were analyzed for differences in socio-demographic and clinical parameters, comorbidities and treatment outcome as well as systolic blood pressure and electrolytes. EO patients more often suffered from a recurrent depression,…
Paroxetine Administration Affects Microbiota and Bile Acid Levels in Mice.
Recent interest in the role of microbiota in health and disease has implicated gut microbiota dysbiosis in psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder. Several antidepressant drugs that belong to the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been found to display antimicrobial activities. In fact, one of the first antidepressants discovered serendipitously in the 1950s, the monoamine-oxidase inhibitor Iproniazid, was a drug used for the treatment of tuberculosis. In the current study we chronically treated DBA/2J mice for 2 weeks with paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and collected fecal pellets as a proxy for the gut microbiota from the animals…
Bioenergetic shift and actin cytoskeleton remodelling as acute vascular adaptive mechanisms to angiotensin II in murine retina and ophthalmic artery
Ocular vascular dysfunction is a major contributing factor to the pathogenesis of glaucoma. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the role of angiotensin II (Ang II) in mediating the disease progression. Despite its (patho)physiological importance, the molecular mechanisms underlying Ang II-mediated oxidative stress remain largely unexplored in the ocular vasculature. Here, we provide the first direct evidence of the alterations of proteome and signalling pathways underlying Ang II-elicited oxidative insult independent of arterial pressure changes in the ophthalmic artery (OA) and retina (R) employing an in vitro experimental model. Both R and OA were isolated from male C57B…
Effects of age on depressive symptomatology and response to antidepressant treatment in patients with major depressive disorder aged 18 to 65 years
Background: There is evidence that symptomatology in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) changes with age. However, studies comparing depressive symptomatology between different age groups during antidepressant therapy are rare. We compared demographic and clinical characteristics in depressed patients of different age groups at baseline and during treatment. Methods: 889 MDD inpatients were divided into four age groups (18–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–65 yrs.). Demographic and clinical characteristics including depressive symptomatology (assessed by the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms) were assessed at baseline and weekly during treatment. Results: At baseline, young patients (18–29 yea…
Sexually Dimorphic Behavioral Profile in a Transgenic Model Enabling Targeted Recombination in Active Neurons in Response to Ketamine and (2R,6R)-Hydroxynorketamine Administration
Background: Rapid-acting antidepressants ketamine and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine ((2R,6R)-HNK) have overcome some of the major limitations of classical antidepressants. However, little is known about sex-specific differences in the behavioral and molecular effects of ketamine and (2R,6R)-HNK in rodents. Methods: We treated mice with an intraperitoneal injection of either saline, ketamine (30 mg kg&minus
Longitudinal CSF proteome profiling in mice to uncover the acute and sustained mechanisms of action of rapid acting antidepressant (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK)
Delayed onset of antidepressant action is a shortcoming in depression treatment. Ketamine and its metabolite (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) have emerged as promising rapid-acting antidepressants. However, their mechanism of action remains unknown. In this study, we first described the anxious and depression-prone inbred mouse strain, DBA/2J, as an animal model to assess the antidepressant-like effects of ketamine and HNK in vivo. To decode the molecular mechanisms mediating HNK's rapid antidepressant effects, a longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome profiling of its acute and sustained effects was conducted using an unbiased, hypothesis-free mass spectrometry-based proteomics app…
Decoding the Mechanism of Action of Rapid-Acting Antidepressant Treatment Strategies: Does Gender Matter?
Gender differences play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder. This is strongly supported by a mean 2:1 female-male ratio of depression consistently observed throughout studies in developed nations. Considering the urgent need to tailor individualized treatment strategies to fight depression more efficiently, a more precise understanding of gender-specific aspects in the pathophysiology and treatment of depressive disorders is fundamental. However, current treatment guidelines almost entirely neglect gender as a potentially relevant factor. Similarly, the vast majority of animal experiments analysing antidepressant treatment in rodent models exclus…
Rapid acting antidepressant (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) targets glucocorticoid receptor signaling: a longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid proteome study
AbstractDelayed onset of antidepressant action is a shortcoming in depression treatment. Ketamine and its metabolite (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) have emerged as promising rapidacting antidepressants. However, their mechanism of action remains unknown. In this study, we first described the anxious and depression-prone inbred mouse strain, DBA/2J, as a animal model to assess the antidepressant-like effects of ketamine and HNK in vivo. To decode the molecular mechanisms mediating HNK’s rapid antidepressant effects, a longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome profiling of its acute and sustained effects was conducted using an unbiased, hypothesis-free mass spectrometry-based proteomi…
Early life stress programming of NG2+ glia transcriptome alters functional properties of voltage gated sodium (Nav) channels and cognitive performance
AbstractThe precise mechanisms underlying the detrimental effects of early life stress (ELS) on adult mental health remain still elusive. To date, most studies have exclusively targeted neuronal populations and not considered neuron-glia crosstalk as a crucially important element for the integrity of stress-related brain function. Here, we have investigated the impact of ELS on a glial subpopulation with unique properties in brain homeostasis, the NG2+ cells. ELS shifted the NG2+ transcriptome towards more mature stages, and these transcriptional effects were dependent on stress-induced glucocorticoids. The functional relevance of one candidate gene, Scn7a, could be confirmed by an increase…
Common genes associated with antidepressant response in mouse and man identify key role of glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity.
Response to antidepressant treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD) cannot be predicted currently, leading to uncertainty in medication selection, increasing costs, and prolonged suffering for many patients. Despite tremendous efforts in identifying response-associated genes in large genome-wide association studies, the results have been fairly modest, underlining the need to establish conceptually novel strategies. For the identification of transcriptome signatures that can distinguish between treatment responders and nonresponders, we herein submit a novel animal experimental approach focusing on extreme phenotypes. We utilized the large variance in response to antidepressant treatmen…