Project Summary

J. Douglas Bremner, M.D. (Independent Investigator 2004) of Emory University, notes that changes in the brain related to depression are poorly understood. He will attempt to learn more about the brain correlates of depression and the use of brain imaging as a tool for predicting vulnerability to depressive relapse. His prior work showed that patients who remitted on antidepressants had a return of symptoms following a dietary depletion of tryptophan (the building blocks of serotonin) and had a decrease in brain metabolism in the frontal cortex during the return of depressive symptoms. Using PET imaging, he will examine if patients who are vulnerable to depression relapse, after 6 months of antidepressant treatment, will have increase brain metabolism with depletion in the frontal cortex, and increased resting metabolism in limbic and frontal areas.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Unipolar Depression

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