Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Mar 2010
ReviewAccelerating response to antidepressant treatment in depression: a review and clinical suggestions.
The primary objective of this article is to review the literature regarding the speed of response to antidepressant drugs and potential strategies to accelerate the antidepressant response in new antidepressant-free patients with depression. Based on these data, we try to propose both an effective and safe antidepressant treatment strategy to alleviate depressive symptoms at the earliest opportunity. ⋯ These findings suggest the need of revisiting the timing of an antidepressant switch for early non-responders, whereby switching could be commenced in as early as 2 weeks.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Feb 2010
Genetic polymorphisms in the dopamine-2 receptor (DRD2), dopamine-3 receptor (DRD3), and dopamine transporter (SLC6A3) genes in schizophrenia: Data from an association study.
To investigate the association between dopaminergic polymorphisms [DRD2 -141C Ins/Del, DRD3 Ser9Gly, and SLC6A3 VNTR] and schizophrenia. ⋯ This study provides evidence that a genetic variant in the DRD2 gene and possible interaction between DRD3 and SLC6A3 genes are associated with schizophrenia. These findings warrant examination in replication studies.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Feb 2010
Clinical TrialResponsiveness of motor and nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson disease to dopaminergic therapy.
The duration of clinical control of motor symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD) treated with levodopa/carbidopa preparations eventually starts to shorten, a phenomenon known as end-of-dose "wearing off." The involvement of core nonmotor symptoms of "wearing off" (depressed mood, pain/aching, anxiety, and cloudy/slowed thinking) is not well understood. ⋯ Nonmotor symptoms of PD appear sensitive to dopaminergic treatment. These symptoms resemble those seen with depressive, anxiety, and somatoform disorders suggesting potential shared mechanisms as well as possible treatment implications.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Feb 2010
Curcumin produces neuroprotective effects via activating brain-derived neurotrophic factor/TrkB-dependent MAPK and PI-3K cascades in rodent cortical neurons.
Curcumin is a major constituent of curcuma longa, a traditional medicine used to manage mental disorders effectively in China. The neuroprotective effects of curcumin have been demonstrated in our previous studies. In the present research, we confirmed this effect by showing that curcumin application promoted the viability of cultured rodent cortical neurons. ⋯ The administration of curcumin led to increased levels of phosphor-ERK and AKT, which were each blocked by MAPK and PI-3K inhibitors. Furthermore, the curcumin-induced increase in phosphorylated cyclic AMP response element binding protein (CREB), which has been implicated as a possible mediator of antidepressant actions, was prevented by MAPK and PI-3K inhibitors. Therefore, we hypothesize the neuroprotection of curcumin might be mediated via BDNF/TrkB-MAPK/PI-3K-CREB signaling pathway.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Nov 2009
Temporally anticorrelated brain networks during working memory performance reveal aberrant prefrontal and hippocampal connectivity in patients with schizophrenia.
Functional neuroimaging studies on cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia have suggested regional brain activation changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe. However, less is known about the functional coupling of these areas during cognitive performance. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging, a verbal working memory (WM) task and multivariate statistical techniques to investigate the functional coupling of temporally anticorrelated neural networks during cognitive processing in patients with schizophrenia (n=16) compared to healthy controls (n=16). ⋯ In addition, aberrant functional coupling of the hippocampal cortex in patients with schizophrenia was detected within a "task-negative" medial frontotemporal network. In patients with schizophrenia, functional connectivity indices in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right hippocampal cortex were positively correlated with accuracy during the WM task, while the connectivity strength in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was negatively correlated with measures of symptom severity. These data suggest that within two temporally anticorrelated network states, patients with schizophrenia exhibit increased and persistent dorsolateral prefrontal and hippocampal connectivity during WM performance.