Testosterone is related to GABA plus levels in the posterior-cingulate in unmedicated depressed women during reproductive life

JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

卷:242

Article

Flores-Ramos, M.^1,2  Alcauter, S.³  Lopez-Titla, M.^2,4  Bernal-Santamaria, N.⁵  Calva-Coraza, Edgar²  Edden, R. A. E.^6,7 

[1] CONACyT, Consejo Nacl Ciencia & Tecnol, Ave Insurgentes Sur 1582, Mexico City, DF, Mexico

[2] Inst Nacl Psiquiatria Ramon de la Fuente Muniz, Calzada Mexico Xochimilco 101, Mexico City, DF, Mexico

[3] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Neurobiol, Blvd Juriquilla 3001, Queretaro 76230, Mexico

[4] Univ Veracruzana, Div Estudios Posgrad, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico

[5] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Med, Dept Serv Social, Ave Univ 3000, Mexico City, DF, Mexico

[6] Johns Hopkins Univ, Sch Med, Russell H Morgan Dept Radiol & Radiol Sci, Baltimore, MD USA

[7] Kennedy Krieger Inst, FM Kirby Ctr Funct MRI, Baltimore, MD USA

关键词: Testosterone;    Major depressive disorder;    Women;    GABA;    MR spectroscopy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jad.2018.08.033

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: The role of testosterone (T) in the pathophysiology of affective disorders and anxiety is broadly supported. Evidence suggests that T has anxiolytic and antidepressant properties. One proposed route for the central effects of T is its interaction with the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system. We explored the relationship between T levels and GABA+ levels in anterior-cingulate (ACC) and the posterior-cingulate (PCC) regions in depressed women, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1-MRS). Methods: Twenty-one depressed patients with regularly cycling who were not taking hormonal or psychotropic drugs were recruited. We assessed severity of depression using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Blood samples were taken for quantification of free (FT) and total testosterone (TT) on the day of the magnetic resonance (MR) scan. We evaluated GABA+ levels in the PCC and ACC, using the Hadamard Encoding and Reconstruction of MEGA-Edited Spectroscopy (HERMES) sequence. Pearson correlations were used to evaluate the association between FT, TT, GABA+ concentrations, and HDRS scores. Results: TT and FT levels were positively correlated with GABA+ levels in the PCC. No correlation was observed between T levels and GABA+ levels in the ACC. The HDRS total scores correlated negatively with FT levels. Limitations: Limitations include the cross-sectional evaluation and the lack of a comparative healthy group. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the potential anxiolytic and antidepressant properties of T are related to increased GABA+ levels in the PCC. This observation may contribute to increased understanding of the role of T in depressive and anxiety symptoms in women.

【 授权许可】

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