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Hippocampal volume and DST in depressed patients
Neurobiology of Affective Disorder
96
BIOL PSYCHIATRY 1992:31:61A-252A
103A
A SEARCH FOR BORNA VIRUS-SPECIFIC GENOME IN HUMAN NERVE TISSUE BY REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (RT-PCR) Vidya Shankar, Bernhard Dietzschold, Zhen Fang Fu, Ja~, D. Amsterdam Wistar Institute of Anatomy and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104. It is hypothesized that some psychiatric disorders may have a viral etiology. Several studies have reported virus-like agents in brain tissue from some psychiatric patients. Recently, we reported an association between Borna disease (BD) virus and human affective illness, and observed the presence of antibodies in the sera of affectively ill patients. In the present study, we used a RT-PCR technique to search for Bd virus-like R N A in brain tissue from 85 postmortem samples (16 schizophrenic, 5 affective, 17 neurological, 27 medical, and 20 healthy subjects). We were unable to detect BD virus-like genomic material in any sample. These data contrast with prior findings of seropositivity in affectively ill patients.
97
ARYLSULFATASE A VARIANT IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION Jay D. Amsterdam, ~ Rong-Sheng Yang, 2 Ronald D. Poretz, a Paul Manowitz 3 IUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 2Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854; 3UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Arylsulfatase A is an enzyme found in many tissues in the body, including the brain and blood. It catalyzes the in vitro degradation of sulfatides, norepinephrine sulfate, epinephrine sulfate, and dopamine sulIate. A new electrophoretic variant of arylsulfatase A has been found in two patients with major depression, but not in normal control subjects. The new varir~nt is termed the "diffuse, multiple banding" variant of arylsulfatase A because of its electrophoretic pattern. Treatment of this variant and normal aryisulfatase As with alkaline phosphatase and endoglycosidase H indicates that the variant, while having both phosphate groups and oligomannose glycans, differs from the nonnal enzyme either in primary amino acid sequence or posttranslational modifications not associated with the N-linked glycans. (Supported by a grant from the UNICO Foundation)
98
HIPPOCAMPAL VOLUME AND DST IN DEPRESSED PATIENTS Dave Axelson, P. Murali Doraiswamy, William M. McDonald, Orest Boyko, Charles B. Nemeroff, Everett H. Ellinwood, K. Ranga Krishnan Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710. Loss of hippocampal neurons has been postulated in the pathophysiology of hypercortisolemia in depression. We studied the volume of amygdala-hippocampal complex (AHC) in 19 depressed patients and 30 controls using MRI imaging. DST was performed in standard fashion in depressed patients. There was no difference in volume between depressed patients and controls. Age was related to right AHC (r = - 0 . 5 4 p < 0.0001) and left AHC (r = - 0 . 5 8 p < 0.0001). Postdexamethasone cortisol concentrations at 3 PM and 10 PM were not related to either right AHC (r = 0.11 and r = -0.07, respectively) or left AHC (r = 0.02 and r = -0.001, respectively). The study does not provide evidence supporting a relationship between AHC and hypercortisolemia in depression.
96
BIOL PSYCHIATRY 1992:31:61A-252A
103A
A SEARCH FOR BORNA VIRUS-SPECIFIC GENOME IN HUMAN NERVE TISSUE BY REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (RT-PCR) Vidya Shankar, Bernhard Dietzschold, Zhen Fang Fu, Ja~, D. Amsterdam Wistar Institute of Anatomy and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104. It is hypothesized that some psychiatric disorders may have a viral etiology. Several studies have reported virus-like agents in brain tissue from some psychiatric patients. Recently, we reported an association between Borna disease (BD) virus and human affective illness, and observed the presence of antibodies in the sera of affectively ill patients. In the present study, we used a RT-PCR technique to search for Bd virus-like R N A in brain tissue from 85 postmortem samples (16 schizophrenic, 5 affective, 17 neurological, 27 medical, and 20 healthy subjects). We were unable to detect BD virus-like genomic material in any sample. These data contrast with prior findings of seropositivity in affectively ill patients.
97
ARYLSULFATASE A VARIANT IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION Jay D. Amsterdam, ~ Rong-Sheng Yang, 2 Ronald D. Poretz, a Paul Manowitz 3 IUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 2Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854; 3UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Arylsulfatase A is an enzyme found in many tissues in the body, including the brain and blood. It catalyzes the in vitro degradation of sulfatides, norepinephrine sulfate, epinephrine sulfate, and dopamine sulIate. A new electrophoretic variant of arylsulfatase A has been found in two patients with major depression, but not in normal control subjects. The new varir~nt is termed the "diffuse, multiple banding" variant of arylsulfatase A because of its electrophoretic pattern. Treatment of this variant and normal aryisulfatase As with alkaline phosphatase and endoglycosidase H indicates that the variant, while having both phosphate groups and oligomannose glycans, differs from the nonnal enzyme either in primary amino acid sequence or posttranslational modifications not associated with the N-linked glycans. (Supported by a grant from the UNICO Foundation)
98
HIPPOCAMPAL VOLUME AND DST IN DEPRESSED PATIENTS Dave Axelson, P. Murali Doraiswamy, William M. McDonald, Orest Boyko, Charles B. Nemeroff, Everett H. Ellinwood, K. Ranga Krishnan Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710. Loss of hippocampal neurons has been postulated in the pathophysiology of hypercortisolemia in depression. We studied the volume of amygdala-hippocampal complex (AHC) in 19 depressed patients and 30 controls using MRI imaging. DST was performed in standard fashion in depressed patients. There was no difference in volume between depressed patients and controls. Age was related to right AHC (r = - 0 . 5 4 p < 0.0001) and left AHC (r = - 0 . 5 8 p < 0.0001). Postdexamethasone cortisol concentrations at 3 PM and 10 PM were not related to either right AHC (r = 0.11 and r = -0.07, respectively) or left AHC (r = 0.02 and r = -0.001, respectively). The study does not provide evidence supporting a relationship between AHC and hypercortisolemia in depression.