Clinical and Basic
Neuroscience Research
Training Program in Psychiatry

Affective Disorders Research

Current research centers on the role of the serotonergic and excitatory amino acid systems in affective disorders, including major depression and mania, as well as on the mechanism of antidepressant action. Lithium augmentation for unremitting depression has been one clinical innovation derived from this research.

Basic science researchers are simultaneously bringing sophisticated and sensitive electrophysiological tools (e.g., patch-clamping, single cell recording, microiontophoresis) to bear on the study of serotonergic neurotransmission and its regulation by drug treatments. In addition, a new and exciting program of research is examining the effects of stress on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, corticotrophin releasing factor, and neurotrophic and growth factors, as well as their regulation by antidepressant treatments. The potent effects of stress in suppressing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the ability of electroconvulsive seizures and chemical antidepressants to increase BDNF are being elucidated in rats, and converging with corresponding clinical studies of ECT effects in depressed subjects.

Clinical investigators, using these findings, are continually evaluating potentially synergistic pharmacotherapies which simultaneously influence neurotransmission via distinct extracellular and intracellular mechanisms. In addition, research into novel somatic therapies, such a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, is being conducted.

Neuroimaging Researchers, using newly devloped neuroreceptor imaging methods, such as PET and SPECT, are measuring serotonin transporter levels in the brains of depressed patients, as well as their occupancy by antidepressant doses of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline). Newly developed tracers for the serotonin receptor subtypes, includeing 5HT-2 and 5HT1A are also underway.

Faculty related to Affective Disorder Research

Duman
Blumberg
Epperson
Kaufman
Southwick
Sanacora

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