Molecular Imaging of the Serotonin Transporter Availability and Occupancy by Antidepressant Treatment in Late-Life Depression.

Molecular Imaging of the Serotonin Transporter Availability and Occupancy by Antidepressant Treatment in Late-Life Depression. Neuropharmacology. 2021 Jan 12;:108447 Authors: Smith GS, Kuwabara H, Gould NF, Nassery N, Savonenko A, Joo JH, Bigos K, Kraut M, Brasic J, Holt DP, Hall AW, Mathews WB, Dannals RF, Nandi A, Workman CI Abstract Patients with late-life depression (LLD) have a more variable response to pharmacotherapy relative to patients with mid-life depression. Degeneration of the serotonergic system and lower occupancy of the initial target for antidepressant medications, the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) may contribute to variability in treatment response. The focus of this study was to test the hypotheses that lower cortical and limbic 5-HTT availability in LLD patients relative to controls and less 5-HTT occupancy by antidepressant medications would be associated with less improvement in mood and cognition with treatment in the LLD patients. Twenty LLD patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for a current major depressive episode and 20 non-depressed controls underwent clinical and neuropsychological assessments, magnetic resonance imaging to measure grey matter volumes and high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to measure 5-HTT before and after 10-12 weeks of treatment with citalopram or sertraline (patients only). Prior to treatment, 5-HTT was lower in LLD patients relative to controls in cortical and lim...
Source: Neuropharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Neuropharmacology Source Type: research