The effect of acute tryptophan depletion on performance and the BOLD response during a Stroop task in healthy first-degree relatives of patients with unipolar depression

A. T. Evers, Elisabeth; M. van der Veen, Frederik; Jolles, Jelle; E. P. Deutz, Nicolaas; A. J. Schmitt, Jeroen

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.09.006

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 173, Issue 1 , Pages 52-58, 15 July 2009

The effect of acute tryptophan depletion on performance and the BOLD response during a Stroop task in healthy first-degree relatives of patients with unipolar depression

Elisabeth A. T. Evers
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Brain and Behavior Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology (DRT 10), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands. Tel.: +31 43 3884086; fax: +31 43 3884092.
Frederik M. van der Veen
- Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Jelle Jolles
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Brain and Behavior Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
Nicolaas E. P. Deutz
- Center for Translational Research on Aging & Longevity, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Jeroen A. J. Schmitt
- Department Nutrition and Health, Nestlé Research Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland

Received 11 April 2007; received in revised form 9 August 2008; accepted 16 September 2008.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that low central serotonin, induced by acute tryptophan depletion (ATD), results in depressed mood and impairs cognition in healthy volunteers with a predisposition for depression. It remains unknown whether ATD affects emotional processing via mood changes or directly. In the present study we investigated the interaction between vulnerability for depression and the effect of ATD on mood, cognition and the associated brain activation. In a previous functional MRI study, we tested the effect of ATD during a combined cognitive and emotional Stroop task in healthy women without a family history of depression (FH−). In this study, we present the data of an additional group of 12 healthy women with a positive family history of unipolar depression (FH+). The effect of ATD on mood and Stroop performance was different for the FH+ group as compared with the FH− group. Scores on the depression sub-scale of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) did not correlate with performance changes, but did correlate with the anterior cingulate cortex response during Stroop interference. This study showed that a family history of unipolar depression interacts with the effect of ATD.

Keywords: Serotonin, Functional MRI, Family history of depression