Project Summary

Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D. (Distinguished Investigator 2003) of Emory University, will seek to determine the comparability of two methods for reliably and quantitatively testing in any given patient the magnitude of serotonin (5HT), norepinephrine (NE), or dopamine (DA) reuptake blockade.  Presently, treatment of major psychiatric disorders is limited by an inability to identify the neurobiological deficit(s) in a given patient and there is no easy, inexpensive way to measure the magnitude of medication effects in the brain produced by various pharmacological agents.  Evidence suggests that many patients exhibit abnormalities in the 5HT system, and it is unclear whether patients with reduced 5HT transporter (SERT) binding preferentially respond to treatment with serotonergic antidepressants.  It is also unclear what magnitude of 5HT reuptake blockade is required for an optimal treatment response.  The same is true for the norepinephrine system.  Dr. Nemeroff will use data from this study to determine what percent of monamine reuptake blockage is essential for an antidepressant response, both in relation to clinical improvement and remission.  He believes his work will allow for an eventual determination of predictors of antidepressant response.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Depression (Unipolar)

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