Differentiation in the Protein Synthesis-Dependency of Persistent Synaptic Plasticity in Mossy Fiber and Associational/commissural CA3 Synapses in Vivo.

Differentiation in the protein synthesis-dependency of persistent synaptic plasticity in mossy fiber and associational/commissural CA3 synapses in vivo.

Front Integr Neurosci. 2013; 7: 10
Hagena H, Manahan-Vaughan D

Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are two mechanisms involved in the long-term storage of information in hippocampal synapses. In the hippocampal CA1 region, the late phases of LTP and LTD are protein-synthesis dependent. In the dentate gyrus, late-LTP but not LTD requires protein synthesis. The protein synthesis-dependency of persistent plasticity at CA3 synapses has not yet been characterized. Here, the roles of protein transcription and translation at mossy fiber (mf) and associational/commissural (AC)- synapses were studied in freely behaving rats. In control animals, low-frequency stimulation (LFS) evoked robust LTD (>24 h), whereas high-frequency stimulation (HFS) elicited robust LTP (>24 h) at both mf-CA3 and AC-CA3 synapses. Translation inhibitors prevented early and late phases of LTP and LTD at mf-CA3 synapses. In contrast, at AC-CA3 synapses, translation inhibitors prevented intermediate/late-LTP and late-LTD only. Transcription effects were also synapse-specific: whereas transcription inhibitors inhibited late-LTP and late-LTD (>3 h) at mf-CA3 synapses, at AC-CA3 synapses, protein transcription affected early-LTP and late-LTD. These results show that the AC-CA3 and mf-CA3 synapses display different properties in terms of their protein synthesis dependency, suggesting different roles in the processing of short- and long term synaptic plasticity. HubMed – depression

[Calling it “Burnout” Instead of “Depression” – A Strategy to Avoid Stigma?].

Psychiatr Prax. 2013 Mar; 40(2): 78-82
Bahlmann J, Angermeyer MC, Schomerus G

Objective: To find out to what extent the German public uses the term “burnout” to label a depressive episode, and to examine how this label relates to stigmatizing attitudes and treatment recommendations.Methods: Representative population surveys in Germany 2001 (n = 5025) and 2011 (n = 3642), using unlabeled case vignettes of mental disorders.Results: Labeling a depressive episode “burnout” increased from 0.3 % in 2001 to 10.2 % in 2011. Schizophrenia and alcohol dependence were labeled “burnout” far less frequently. Compared to the label “depression”, “burnout” was associated with less desire for social distance, but also with less recommendation of psychotherapy, medication, and seeing a psychiatrist.Conclusion: While provoking less desire for social distance than “depression”, using the label “burnout” carries the risk of increasing the proportion of untreated depressive episodes. HubMed – depression

Electroconvulsive therapy response in major depressive disorder: a pilot functional network connectivity resting state FMRI investigation.

Front Psychiatry. 2013; 4: 10
Abbott CC, Lemke NT, Gopal S, Thoma RJ, Bustillo J, Calhoun VD, Turner JA

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with increased functional connectivity in specific neural networks. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the gold-standard treatment for acute, treatment-resistant MDD, but temporal dependencies between networks associated with ECT response have yet to be investigated. In the present longitudinal, case-control investigation, we used independent component analysis to identify distinct networks of brain regions with temporally coherent hemodynamic signal change and functional network connectivity (FNC) to assess component time course correlations across these networks. MDD subjects completed imaging and clinical assessments immediately prior to the ECT series and a minimum of 5?days after the last ECT treatment. We focused our analysis on four networks affected in MDD: the subcallosal cingulate gyrus, default mode, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). In an older sample of ECT subjects (?=?12) with MDD, remission associated with the ECT series reverses the relationship from negative to positive between the posterior default mode (p_DM) and two other networks: the DMPFC and left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (l_DLPFC). Relative to demographically healthy subjects (?=?12), the FNC between the p_DM areas and the DMPFC normalizes with ECT response. The FNC changes following treatment did not correlate with symptom improvement; however, a direct comparison between ECT remitters and non-remitters showed the pattern of increased FNC between the p_DM and l_DLPFC following ECT to be specific to those who responded to the treatment. The differences between ECT remitters and non-remitters suggest that this increased FNC between p_DM areas and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is a neural correlate and potential biomarker of recovery from a depressed episode. HubMed – depression

Depression Treatment: Minor vs. Major Depression – Is it harder to treat Major Depression, serious depression, than a mild depression? HealthyPlace.com Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft, says it depends. For comprehensive information on depression, visit the HealthyPlace.com Depression Information Center: www.healthyplace.com