Provides information on the research of Waynes Drevets of the
University of Pittsburg Medical Center about the amygdala, a small brain
region that plays a central role in emotional learning and behavior.
Effects of severe depression to the brain; Implication of his research
about anti-depressants; Implication of his research about depressive
disorders.
By
Annie Murphy Paul, published on March 01, 1998
Severe depression often paralyzes its sufferers with a sense of
overwhelminglistlessness and lethargy At the same time, however, some
parts of the depressive's brain may be working overtime, reports Wayne
Drevets, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Drevets presented his research on the amygdala--a small brain
region that plays a central role in emotional learning and behavior--at
the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in October. He used
positron emission tomography, or PET, to measure the glucose metabolism
of the amygdalas of people with different types of depression. Abnormally
high metabolism, says Drevets, would indicate that the cells in that
region are especially busy communicating with each other, perhaps
producing exaggerated emotional states like obsessive ruminations and
panic attacks. And indeed, he found this heightened activity in the
brains of two groups of patients: those with manic-depressive illness,
and those with the kind of depression that runs in families and is
thought to be caused, at least in part, by genetic factors.
In addition, Drevets' research fits another piece into the puzzle
of how antidepressants work. Scientists have long been aware that the
drugs reduce amygdala metabolism, but didn't know until now that this
result is far more than a side effect.
A.M.P.
ILLUSTRATION
Tags:
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