DEMO-II Trial. Aerobic Exercise Versus Stretching Exercise in Patients With Major Depression-a Randomised Clinical Trial.

DEMO-II Trial. Aerobic Exercise versus Stretching Exercise in Patients with Major Depression-A Randomised Clinical Trial.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

PLoS One. 2012; 7(10): e48316
Krogh J, Videbech P, Thomsen C, Gluud C, Nordentoft M

The effect of referring patients from a clinical setting to a pragmatic exercise intervention for depressive symptoms, cognitive function, and metabolic variables has yet to be determined.Outpatients with major depression (DSM-IV) were allocated to supervised aerobic or stretching exercise groups during a three months period. The primary outcome was the Hamilton depression score (HAM-D(17)). Secondary outcomes were cognitive function, cardiovascular risk markers, and employment related outcomes.56 participants were allocated to the aerobic exercise intervention versus 59 participants to the stretching exercise group. Post intervention the mean difference between groups was -0.78 points on the HAM-D(17) (95% CI -3.2 to 1.6; P?=?.52). At follow-up, the participants in the aerobic exercise group had higher maximal oxygen uptake (mean difference 4.4 l/kg/min; 95% CI 1.7 to 7.0; P?=?.001) and visuospatial memory on Rey’s Complex Figure Test (mean difference 3.2 points; 95% CI 0.9 to 5.5; P?=?.007) and lower blood glucose levels (mean difference 0.2 mmol/l; 95% CI 0.0 to 0.5; P?=?.04) and waist circumference (mean difference 2.2 cm; 95% CI 0.3 to 4.1; P?=?.02) compared with the stretching exercise group.The results of this trial does not support any antidepressant effect of referring patients with major depression to a three months aerobic exercise program. Due to lower recruitment than anticipated, the trial was terminated prior to reaching the pre-defined sample size of 212 participants; therefore the results should be interpreted in that context. However, the DEMO-II trial does suggest that an exercise program for patients with depression offer positive short-term effects on maximal oxygen uptake, visuospatial memory, fasting glucose levels, and waist circumference.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00695552.
HubMed – depression

Explaining spatial heterogeneity in population dynamics and genetics from spatial variation in resources for a large herbivore.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

PLoS One. 2012; 7(10): e47858
Contasti AL, Tissier EJ, Johnstone JF, McLoughlin PD

Fine-scale spatial variation in genetic relatedness and inbreeding occur across continuous distributions of several populations of vertebrates; however, the basis of observed variation is often left untested. Here we test the hypothesis that prior observations of spatial patterns in genetics for an island population of feral horses (Sable Island, Canada) were the result of spatial variation in population dynamics, itself based in spatial heterogeneity in underlying habitat quality. In order to assess how genetic and population structuring related to habitat, we used hierarchical cluster analysis of water sources and an indicator analysis of the availability of important forage species to identify a longitudinal gradient in habitat quality along the length of Sable Island. We quantify a west-east gradient in access to fresh water and availability of two important food species to horses: sandwort, Honckenya peploides, and beach pea, Lathyrus japonicas. Accordingly, the population clusters into three groups that occupy different island segments (west, central, and east) that vary markedly in their local dynamics. Density, body condition, and survival and reproduction of adult females were highest in the west, followed by central and east areas. These results mirror a previous analysis of genetics, which showed that inbreeding levels are highest in the west (with outbreeding in the east), and that there are significant differences in fixation indices among groups of horses along the length of Sable Island. Our results suggest that inbreeding depression is not an important limiting factor to the horse population. We conclude that where habitat gradients exist, we can anticipate fine-scale heterogeneity in population dynamics and hence genetics.
HubMed – depression

Muscarinic and nicotinic modulation of thalamo-prefrontal cortex synaptic pasticity in vivo.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

PLoS One. 2012; 7(10): e47484
Bueno-Junior LS, Lopes-Aguiar C, Ruggiero RN, Romcy-Pereira RN, Leite JP

The mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MD) is a rich source of afferents to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Dysfunctions in the thalamo-prefrontal connections can impair networks implicated in working memory, some of which are affected in Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia. Considering the importance of the cholinergic system to cortical functioning, our study aimed to investigate the effects of global cholinergic activation of the brain on MD-mPFC synaptic plasticity by measuring the dynamics of long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) in vivo. Therefore, rats received intraventricular injections either of the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine (PILO; 40 nmol/µL), the nicotinic agonist nicotine (NIC; 320 nmol/µL), or vehicle. The injections were administered prior to either thalamic high-frequency (HFS) or low-frequency stimulation (LFS). Test pulses were applied to MD for 30 min during baseline and 240 min after HFS or LFS, while field postsynaptic potentials were recorded in the mPFC. The transient oscillatory effects of PILO and NIC were monitored through recording of thalamic and cortical local field potentials. Our results show that HFS did not affect mPFC responses in vehicle-injected rats, but induced a delayed-onset LTP with distinct effects when applied following PILO or NIC. Conversely, LFS induced a stable LTD in control subjects, but was unable to induce LTD when applied after PILO or NIC. Taken together, our findings show distinct modulatory effects of each cholinergic brain activation on MD-mPFC plasticity following HFS and LFS. The LTP-inducing action and long-lasting suppression of cortical LTD induced by PILO and NIC might implicate differential modulation of thalamo-prefrontal functions under low and high input drive.
HubMed – depression

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