Whole blood PGC-1α mRNA levels were analysed in samples from 67 patients with a major depressive episode and 70 healthy controls, and in patient samples following a course of ECT using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
Vascular endothelial growth factor A fasting plasma levels of 469 major depressive episode-major depressive disorder patients were compared with healthy controls.
In addition, plasma level of TNF-α was significantly higher in the carriers than in the non-carriers of the IL10 ATA haplotype in patients with the first MDE.
S100B levels in serum were consistently elevated in studies with statistically significant results which investigated acute affective episodes (comprising major depressive episode in major depressive disorder, and both manic and depressive episodes in patients with bipolar disorder), in comparison to healthy controls.
Participants included 59 adults with type I or II bipolar disorder in a major depressive episode and receiving a stable pharmacologic regimen with 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) scores higher than 17.
Our data support the use of ECT in elderly patients with treatment-resistant major depressive episode, with rates of response around 70% and effectiveness being independent from age.
We used [<sup>11</sup>C](R)-PK11195 positron emission tomography to compare TSPO availability in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), prefrontal cortex, and insula between 14 medication-free patients in a major depressive episode of at least moderate severity and 13 matched healthy control subjects.
To evaluate aggressiveness during a major depressive episode (MDE) and its relationship with bipolar disorder (BD) in a post hoc analysis of the BRIDGE-II-MIX study.
In this six-week open-label trial, we shed light on the impacts of six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the calcium voltage-gated channel subunit alpha1 C (CACNA1C) gene on cognitive recovery in 192 bipolar patients suffering a major depressive episode (MDE).
The authors explored gene-environment interactions between FKBP5 gene variants and adverse life events in predicting the first occurrence of a major depressive episode.
Moreover, the analysis of 2 separate MDEs concerning a same patient revealed comparable results for the expression of CREB1, HSPA2, HTR1B, NRG1 and TPH1.
In the present study, 340 patients with a Major Depressive Episode (f=194, m=146; DSM-IV) of Caucasian descent were genotyped for the functional MAO-A VNTR.
Exploratory analyses indicated an association of the genotype and allele frequencies of the h5-HTR(1B)G861C locus with a history of substance abuse disorder (chi(2) = 9.51, df = 2, p = 0.009; chi(2) = 7.31, df = 1, p = 0.007, respectively) and with a diagnosis of a major depressive episode (chi(2) = 6.83, df = 2, p = 0.033; chi(2) = 5.81, df = 1, p = 0.016, respectively).
In addition, plasma level of TNF-α was significantly higher in the carriers than in the non-carriers of the IL10 ATA haplotype in patients with the first MDE.