Project Summary

Jose' V. Pardo, M.D., Ph.D. (Independent Investigator 2000) of VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, will define a functional map of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in healthy control volunteers and in patients with treatment-non-responsive depression.  Previous work has shown that ACC dysfunction plays a key role in the abnormal physiology of mood disorders.  Dr. Pardo will use positron emission tomography (PET) co-registered with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure regional cerebral blood flow in the ACC region in depressed patients and healthy controls.  In addition, this work will lead to an atlas of normal ACC functional subregions in controls and patients with treatment-non-responsive depression.  This research has the potential to identify depressed patients unlikely to respond to conventional therapies and stimulate new, targeted interventions for this relatively large group of patients.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Depression (Unipolar)

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