Mood changes correlate to changes in brain serotonin precursor trapping in women with premenstrual dysphoria

Eriksson, Olle; Wall, Anders; Marteinsdottir, Ina; Ågren, Hans; Hartvig, Per; Blomqvist, Gunnar; Långström, Bengt; Naessén, Tord

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2005.02.012

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 146, Issue 2 , Pages 107-116, 31 March 2006

Mood changes correlate to changes in brain serotonin precursor trapping in women with premenstrual dysphoria

Olle Eriksson
- Department of Women's and Children's Health/Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 18 6115777; fax: +46 18 559775.
Anders Wall
- Uppsala Imanet AB, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Ina Marteinsdottir
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Hans Ågren
- Neurotec Department, Division of Psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
Per Hartvig
- Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Gunnar Blomqvist
- Uppsala Imanet AB, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Bengt Långström
- Uppsala Imanet AB, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
Tord Naessén
- Department of Women's and Children's Health/Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden

Received 27 July 2004; received in revised form 20 December 2004; accepted 14 February 2005.

Abstract

The cardinal mood symptoms of premenstrual dysphoria can be effectively treated by serotonin-augmenting drugs. The aim of the study was to test the serotonin hypothesis of this disorder, i.e. of an association between premenstrual decline in brain serotonin function and concomitant worsening of self-rated cardinal mood symptoms. Positron emission tomography was used to assess changes in brain trapping of ¹¹C-labeled 5-hydroxytryptophan, the immediate precursor of serotonin, in the follicular and premenstrual phases of the menstrual cycle in eight women with premenstrual dysphoria. Changes in mood and physical symptoms were assessed from daily visual analog scale ratings. Worsening of cardinal mood symptoms showed significant inverse associations with changes in brain serotonin precursor trapping; for the symptom “irritable”, r_s=−0.83, and for “depressed mood” r_s=−0.81. Positive mood variables showed positive associations, whereas physical symptoms generally displayed weak or no associations. The data indicate strong inverse associations between worsening of cardinal symptoms of premenstrual dysphoria and brain serotonin precursor (¹¹C-labeled 5-hydroxytryptophan) trapping. The results may in part support a role for serotonin in premenstrual dysphoria and may provide a clue to the effectiveness of serotonin-augmenting drugs in this disorder but should, due to small sample size and methodological shortcomings, be considered preliminary.