Early Prediction of the Effectiveness of Antidepressants: Inputs from an Animal Model

Abstract

Although depressive disorders affect approximately 5% of the population in developed countries each year, current antidepressants usually require several weeks to produce beneficial clinical effects and are only effective in about 55% of patients. Therefore, early prediction of the effectiveness of a particular antidepressant for a patient is important for effective pharmacological treatment of depression. In this study, we examined a new method, based on mathematical analyses, of exploratory behavior for predicting the effectiveness of particular antidepressants shortly after initiation of treatment. By using this method, we were able to predict the effectiveness of antidepressants 1-3 days after initiation of treatment in individual subjects.

Monitoring of Circadian Rhythms of Heart Rate, Locomotor Activity, and Temperature for Diagnosis and Evaluation of Response to Treatment in an Animal Model of Depression

“…The major obstacle in the pharmacotherapy of depression is the heterogenic nature of the depressed population (Gonzalez et al 2003) and there is a need for a reliable physiological marker that enables distinguishing between depressed patients and the normal population (Friedman et al 2009). …”