Background: The cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding proteins (CREB) and their interaction with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are essential elements in signal transduction pathways important for cellular resilience and neuroplasticity. They play a decisive role in the concept of altered neuroplasticity in major depression. We have previously demonstrated that the increase in phosphorylated CREB (pCREB) in T lymphocytes is significantly associated with clinical improvement in patients treated with antidepressants. In the present study, we focused on patients treated only with psychotherapy to exclude direct pharmacological actions. In addition to pCREB, we also measured the BDNF plasma levels. Methods: pCREB in T lymphocytes was determined by Western blot; the BDNF plasma levels with solid-phase ELISA. Psychopathology was evaluated with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD). Thirty patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for major depressive episodes (MDE) were recruited into this 6-week study. They received interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) twice weekly. Results: After 6 weeks of IPT, 17 patients responded (reduction of ≥50% of baseline HAMD); after 1 week of treatment pCREB increased significantly compared to the nonresponder group. Measurement of the BDNF plasma levels revealed no differences between the responder and nonresponder groups. Furthermore, the correlations between BDNF plasma levels and pCREB were not significant. Conclusions: The early increase in pCREB is related to treatment response and does not depend on pharmacological interventions or BDNF plasma levels. For the first time, cellular biological markers could be associated with response to psychotherapy.

Neurologic symptoms rarely occur as presenting feature of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We describe a 37-year old woman who presented with several episodes of transverse myelitis and optic neuritis. Clinical, radiologic and laboratory findings were compatible with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). Seven years after disease onset clinical and laboratory findings were diagnostic for SLE. This case illustrates that NMO may represent a first manifestation of SLE for many years.

SUMMARY It has been hypothesized that non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is particularly important in promoting procedural learning. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of pharmacological REM sleep suppression on performance in different neuropsychological tasks. For our baseline, we chose 41 moderately depressed patients (age range 19-44 years), who were not taking antidepressants. In the morning after polysomnography, we tested memory recall and cognitive flexibility by assessment of verbal and figural fluency, a shift of attention task and the Trail Making Test B. After recording baseline values, patients were assigned randomly to one of three treatment groups: medication with citalopram; medication with reboxetine; or exclusive treatment with psychotherapy. Retesting took place 1 week after onset of treatment. The main results were: (1) an association of slow-wave sleep with verbal memory performance at baseline; (2) a suppression of REM sleep in patients taking citalopram and reboxetine; (3) no differences regarding neuropsychological performance within the treatment groups; and (4) no association of REM sleep diminution with decreases in memory performance or cognitive flexibility in patients treated with citalopram or reboxetine. In line with other studies, our results suggest that there are no negative effects of a decrease in REM sleep on memory performance in patients taking antidepressants.k e y w o r d s citalopram, major depression, neuropsychology, reboxetine, REM sleep, slow-wave sleep

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The percentage of cranial vascular volume that undergoes arterial pulsations is estimated by 18 paired measurements in nine healthy volunteers using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS, 10 Hz sampling frequency, 769 nm). The NIR absorption is decomposed in pulsatile and non-pulsatile components by digital filtering. The time course of absorption changes of these components after sudden intravenous injection of indocyanine-green (ICG) is used to estimate the arterial fraction of vascular volume (f art). Approximately 28% of the vascular volume within the optical field of the NIR spectroscope was arterial. The range of values was 6-43%. Variance of f art was 4.8 times higher between subjects than within subjects, indicating that the variability observed is not due to imprecise estimation but to optode position and subject.