Brain Biogenic Amine Depletion and Mood

Elevated cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in macaques following early life stress and inverse association with hippocampal volume: preliminary implications for serotonin-related function in mood and anxiety disorders

“…The current study replicates our finding of elevated cisternal CSF 5-HIAA in two previous cohorts of macaque subjects reared under the VFD model of ELS (Mendels and Frazer, 1974 ; Coplan et al, 1998 ). The data indicate that maternal uncertainty produced by variable foraging conditions may render offspring vulnerable to developing abnormally elevated levels of CSF 5-HIAA (Mendels and Frazer, 1974 ; Coplan et al, 1998 ).…”

“…The current study replicates our finding of elevated cisternal CSF 5-HIAA in two previous cohorts of macaque subjects reared under the VFD model of ELS (Mendels and Frazer, 1974 ; Coplan et al, 1998 ). The data indicate that maternal uncertainty produced by variable foraging conditions may render offspring vulnerable to developing abnormally elevated levels of CSF 5-HIAA (Mendels and Frazer, 1974 ; Coplan et al, 1998 ). Effects are independent of age, weight and sex, which is consistent with our previous studies (Coplan et al, 1996 ; Mathew et al, 2002 ) but in contrast to rhesus studies, where age, pubertal status and sex have been demonstrated to influence CSF 5-HIAA concentrations (Higley et al, 1991 ).…”

Transient Depressive Relapse Induced by Catecholamine Depletion

“…First, diphenhydramine may not have preserved the study blind fully, in that ␣-methylparatyrosine testing was associated with higher levels of anergy and drowsiness than control testing, unlike what has been reported in previous studies. [15][16][17] Although this finding is consistent with the previous assertion that vulnerable subjects manifest a depressive reaction secondary to the sedative properties of ␣-methylparatyrosine, 7 peak levels of sedation preceded peak HDRS scores by at least 5 hours in 4 of the 10 subjects who experienced a depressive relapse. Furthermore, some subjects demonstrated substantial drowsiness during active testing without significant changes in HDRS scores, and increases in drowsiness did not correlate with HDRS score increases.…”

Orally administrated dipeptide Ser-Tyr efficiently stimulates noradrenergic turnover in the mouse brain

“…14,15) It is well documented that a reduction in these catecholamine stores results in an exacerbation of depression symptoms. 16) Hence, it will be interesting to confirm the present observations using depression models to further study the effect on NA metabolism.…”