You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 62 No. 11, November 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  Original Article
 This Article
 •Full text
 •PDF
 • Reply to article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on ISI (30)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Topic Collections
 •Depression
 •Alert me on articles by topic

Functional Neuroanatomical Substrates of Altered Reward Processing in Major Depressive Disorder Revealed by a Dopaminergic Probe

Lescia K. Tremblay, PhD; Claudio A. Naranjo, MD; Simon J. Graham, PhD; Nathan Herrmann, MD; Helen S. Mayberg, MD; Stephanie Hevenor, BSc; Usoa E. Busto, PharmD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:1228-1236.

Context  The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) includes disturbances in several neuroanatomical substrates and neurotransmitter systems. The challenge is to elucidate the brain mechanisms of MDD behavioral symptoms, chiefly those of anhedonia.

Objectives  To visualize the neuroanatomical substrates implicated in altered reward processing in MDD, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with a dopaminergic probe (a 30-mg dose of oral dextroamphetamine sulfate) to stimulate the brain reward system; and to test the hypothesis that a hypersensitive response to dextroamphetamine in MDD involves the prefrontal cortex and the striatum.

Design and Interventions  Among subjects with MDD and healthy control subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after single-blind administration of dextroamphetamine.

Setting  Subjects were recruited through local newspaper advertisements and by word of mouth.

Participants  Twelve depressed subjects (mean age, 34.83 years; male-female ratio, 6:6) met criteria for MDD according to the DSM-IV, were not taking antidepressants, and had no comorbid Axis I disorders. Twelve control subjects (mean age, 29.33 years; male-female ratio, 5:7) were healthy volunteers without a history of Axis I disorders.

Main Outcome Measures  Functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level–dependent activation was measured during a controlled task, and dextroamphetamine-induced subjective effects were assessed using the Addiction Research Center Inventory.

Results  Subjects with MDD had a hypersensitive response to the rewarding effects of dextroamphetamine (2-fold increase; t21 = 2.74, P = .01), with altered brain activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex and the caudate and putamen (F1,44 = 11.93, P = .001).

Conclusion  Dopamine-related neuroanatomical substrates are involved in altered reward processing in MDD, shedding light on the neurobiology of the anhedonic symptoms in MDD and suggesting these substrates as future therapeutic targets.


Author Affiliations: Neuropsychopharmacology Research Program, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, Sunnybrook Campus (Drs Tremblay, Naranjo, Herrmann, and Busto); Clinical Neuroscience Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Drs Tremblay and Busto); Rotman Research Institute (Drs Graham and Mayberg and Ms Hevenor); and Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Drs Tremblay and Busto), Pharmacology (Drs Naranjo, Herrmann, and Busto), Medical Biophysics (Dr Graham), Psychiatry (Drs Naranjo, Herrmann, and Mayberg), and Medicine (Drs Naranjo, Herrmann, and Busto), University of Toronto; Toronto, Ontario.



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Apathy Associated with Alzheimer Disease: Use of Dextroamphetamine Challenge
Lanctot et al.
AJGP 2008;16:551-557.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dissociating the Role of the Orbitofrontal Cortex and the Striatum in the Computation of Goal Values and Prediction Errors
Hare et al.
J. Neurosci. 2008;28:5623-5630.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Altered Reward Processing in Women Recovered From Anorexia Nervosa
Wagner et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2007;164:1842-1849.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Lateralized Caudate Metabolic Abnormalities in Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder: A Proton MR Spectroscopy Study
Gabbay et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2007;164:1881-1889.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Parkinson's disease-like midbrain sonography abnormalities are frequent in depressive disorders
Walter et al.
Brain 2007;130:1799-1807.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neural Evidence for Enhanced Error Detection in Major Depressive Disorder
Chiu and Deldin
Am. J. Psychiatry 2007;164:608-616.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Role of Dopamine in the Pathophysiology of Depression
Dunlop and Nemeroff
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007;64:327-337.
FULL TEXT  

Adjunctive Aripiprazole in Bipolar I Depression
Sokolski
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2007;41:35-40.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Orbitofrontal cortex hypometabolism, medication overuse headache, substance abuse and migraine: key pathophysiological issues.
Gupta
Brain 2006;129:E52-E52.
FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 2005 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.