Combining neuroreceptor ligand PET and fMRI …

A new line of joint receptor ligand PET- and MRI-research between the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University Leipzig and our team has just recently been initiated building on previous work conducted at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, and the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, on neuropsychopharmacological drug-occupancy studies and mood disorders, specifically postpartum mood changes. Former projects have applied PET techniques to study brain kinetics of antidepressants, alteration of monoaminergic metabolism in depression, recovery and recurrence, and hormone-regulated neurochemical changes in the immediate postpartum period (days four to six postpartum). In prospective studies we will investigate the neurobiology of gender differences in the pathophysiology and treatment of affective disorders and the interaction of monoaminergic neurochemistry and functional connectivity in the human brain. Secondly, and in line with our previous work in geriatric depression and dementia, we explore normal and abnormal states of the monoaminergic circuitry in late life. One of our current projects evaluates alterations on the neuroreceptor level in late onset depression with structural and functional connectivity pattern changes involved in emotional processing.

Related references

J. Sacher, A. Wilson, S. Houle, P. Rusjan, S. Hassan, P. Bloomfield, D. Stewart, J. Meyer Elevated brain monoamine oxidase A binding in early postpartum. Archives of General Psychiatry (2009): in revision.

J. Meyer, A. Wilson, S. Sagrati, L. Miler, P. Rusjan, P. Bloomfield, M. Clark, J. Sacher, A. Voineskos, S. Houle Brain monoamine oxidase A binding in major depressive disorder: Relationship to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment, recovery and recurrence, Archives of General Psychiatry (2009): in press.

S. Kasper, J. Sacher, N. Klein, N. Mossaheb, T. Attarbaschi-Steiner, R. Lanzenberger, C. Spindelegger, S. Asenbaum, A. Holik, R. Dudczak. Differences in the dynamics of serotonin reuptake transporter occupancy may explain superior clinical efficacy of escitalopram versus citalopram. Int Clin Psychopharmacol 24(2009):119-25.