Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 15, Issue 10, Pages 1541-1546Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S1461145712000272
Keywords
Antidepressant; depression; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; N-acetyl-aspartate
Funding
- Medical Research Council
- Medical Research Council [MC_U951162643, G0701421, G1002025] Funding Source: researchfish
- MRC [G1002025, MC_U951162643, G0701421] Funding Source: UKRI
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Increasing interest surrounds potential neuroprotective or neurotrophic actions of antidepressants. While growing evidence points to important early clinical and neuropsychological effects of antidepressants, the time-course of any effect on neuronal integrity is unclear. This study used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to assess effects of short-term treatment with escitalopram on N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), a marker of neuronal integrity. Thirty-nine participants with major depression were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg escitalopram or placebo daily in a double-blind, parallel group design. On the seventh day of treatment, PRESS data were obtained from a 30x30x20 mm voxel placed in medial frontal cortex. Age and gender-matched healthy controls who received no treatment were also scanned. Levels of NAA were significantly higher in patients treated with escitalopram than in either placebo-treated patients (p < 0.01) or healthy controls (p < 0.01). Our findings are consistent with the proposition that antidepressant treatment in depressed patients can produce early changes in neuronal integrity.
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