PET AND THE FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY OF DEPRESSION

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This is a request for an ADAMHA SDAC. During the tenure of the requested award, achievement of the following career development objectives is anticipated: A) Developing competence as a functional brain imaging researcher utilizing positron emission tomography (PET). B) Establishing expertise in the neurophysiologic assessment (with PET) of normal and pathologic forms of human emotion. The experimental program proposed to accomplish these ends consists of: 1) Applying PET to the study of pathologic emotional states, by a) delineating pathophysiology in terms of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) or glucose metabolism (rCMRglu), b) assessing effects of medications on RCBF and rCMRglu, C) distinguishing trait versus state physiologic abnormalities in affective illness by imaging patients in both symptomatic and asymptomatic states. Four pathologic mood states will be studied - unipolar major depression bipolar affective disorder-depressed and hypomanic phases, dysthymic disorder, and elderly major depression. 2) investigating the neurophysiologic correlates of normal human emotion using: a) functional activation paradigms (which compare intrasubject rCBF change between control and activated states) designed to involve the experience of sadness, and b) investigating physiologic changes accompanying, uncomplicated bereavement as a model for reactive depression. Such knowledge will be critical for illuminating the significance of regional abnormalities identified in pathological mood states. 3) Testing methodology intended to more accurately compare patient and control PET images, and learning application of algorithms which correlate PET and MRI data for correction for regional atrophy.