TY - JOUR
T1 - Testosterone is related to GABA+ levels in the posterior-cingulate in unmedicated depressed women during reproductive life
AU - Flores-Ramos, M.
AU - Alcauter, S.
AU - López-Titla, M.
AU - Bernal-Santamaría, N.
AU - Calva-Coraza, Edgar
AU - Edden, R. A.E.
N1 - Funding Information:
RAEE has received honoraria from Philips Medical Systems, and grant funding from Siemens Medical Solutions, USA.
Funding Information:
MFR has received grant support from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) and has served as a speaker for Lundbeck and Schwabe Pharma. RAEE has received honoraria from Philips Medical Systems, and grant funding from Siemens Medical Solutions, USA.
Funding Information:
This study applies tools developed under NIH grants P41EB015909 , R01EB016089 , and R01EB023963 ; RAEE also receives salary support from these grants.
Funding Information:
Financial support was received from CONACYT (grant FOSISS-2015-261435 ), recipient MFR.
Funding Information:
MFR is supported by CONACYT (Cátedras de Investigación, project 1683).
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - 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 (1H-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.
AB - 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 (1H-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.
KW - GABA
KW - MR spectroscopy
KW - Major depressive disorder
KW - Testosterone
KW - Women
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2018.08.033
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2018.08.033
M3 - Article
C2 - 30195172
AN - SCOPUS:85052927201
VL - 242
SP - 143
EP - 149
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
SN - 0165-0327
ER -