Recent neuroimaging and postmortem studies have demonstrated abnormalities in glutamatergic transmission in major depression. Glutamate NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors are one of the major mediators of excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system. At synaptic sites, NMDA receptors are linked with postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95) that plays a key role in mediating trafficking, clustering, and downstream signaling events, following receptor activation. In this study, we examined the expression of NMDA receptor subunits NR1, NR2A, and NR2B as well as PSD-95 in the anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) using Western blot method. Cortical samples were obtained from age, gender and postmortem interval matched depressed and psychiatrically healthy controls. The results revealed that there was a reduced expression of the NMDA receptor subunits NR2A (−54%) and NR2B (−48%), and PSD-95 protein level (−40%) in the PFC of depressed subjects relative to controls, with no change in the NR1 subunit. The alterations in NMDA receptor subunits, especially the NR2A and NR2B, as well as PSD-95 suggest an abnormality in the NMDA receptor signaling in the PFC in major depression. Our findings in conjunction with recent clinical, cellular, and neuroimaging studies further implicate the involvement of glutamate neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of depression. This study provides additional evidence that NMDA receptor complex is a target for discovery of novel antidepressants.

Recent studies demonstrate that rapid antidepressant response to ketamine is mediated by activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, leading to increased synaptic proteins in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of rats. Our postmortem studies indicate robust deficits in prominent postsynaptic proteins including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits (NR2A, NR2B), metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) and postsynaptic density protein 95 kDa (PSD-95) in the PFC in major depressive disorder (MDD). We hypothesize that deficits in the mTOR-dependent translation initiation pathway contribute to the molecular pathology seen in the PFC of MDD subjects, and that a rapid reversal of these abnormalities may underlie antidepressant activity. The majority of known translational regulation occurs at the level of initiation. mTOR regulates translation initiation via its downstream components: p70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6K), and eukaryotic initiation factors 4E and 4B (eIF4E, eIF4B). In this study, we examined the expression of mTOR and its core downstream signaling targets: p70S6K, eIF4E, eIF4B in the PFC of 12 depressed subjects and 12 psychiatrically healthy controls using Western blot. Levels of eIF4E phosphorylated at serine 209 (p-eIF4E-Ser209) and eIF4B phosphorylated at serine 504 (p-eIF4B-Ser504) were also examined. Adjacent cortical tissue samples from both cohorts of subjects were used in our previous postmortem analyses. There was a significant reduction in mTOR, p70S6K, eIF4B and p-eIF4B protein expression in MDD subjects relative to controls. No group differences were observed in eIF4E, p-eIF4E or actin levels. Our findings show deficits in mTOR-dependent translation initiation in MDD particularly via the p70S6K/eIF4B pathway, and indicate a potential association between marked deficits in synaptic proteins and dysregulation of mTOR signaling in MDD.

Objective-Clinical and preclinical evidence suggest a hyperactive glutamatergic system in clinical depression. Recently, the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) has been proposed as an attractive target for discovery of novel therapeutic approaches against depression. The goal of this study was to compare mGluR5 binding (PET study) and mGluR5 protein expression (postmortem study) between subjects with major depressive disorder and healthy controls.Method-Images of mGluR5 receptor binding were acquired using PET and [ 11 C]ABP688 that binds to an allosteric site with high specificity in 11 unmedicated subjects with major depression and 11 matched healthy controls; the amount of mGluR5 protein was investigated using Western blot method in brain samples of 15 depressed subjects and 15 matched controls (postmortem study).Results-The PET study revealed decreased regional mGluR5 binding in the prefrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex, the insula, the thalamus and the hippocampus of the depressed individuals (uncorrected p<0.001). Severity of depression correlated negatively with mGluR5 binding in the hippocampus (cluster-level corrected p=0.029). The postmortem study showed reduced mGluR5 protein expression in the prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area 10) in depression (p<0.014), while prefrontal mGluR1 protein expression was unchanged.Conclusions-The reductions in mGluR5 binding found in the depressed sample are compatible with reduced protein expression in postmortem tissue. Thus, both studies suggest that basal or