Browsing by Author "Gonul A.S."

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    Effect of treatment on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in depressed patients
    (2005) Gonul A.S.; Akdeniz F.; Taneli F.; Donat O.; Eker Ç.; Vahip S.
    Researchers have reported that serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (sBDNF) of drug-free depressed patients are lower than those of healthy controls and proposed that low sBDNF levels might reflect failure of neuronal plasticity in depression. In this study, we compared sBDNF levels of depressed patients (n = 28) before and after 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment, with those of healthy controls (n = 18) to test the hypothesis that initially low sBDNF levels of drug-free depressed patients will increase parallel with their clinical response to antidepressant treatment. The severity of depression and response to treatment were assessed with Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). sBDNF was assayed with the sandwich ELISA method. Baseline sBDNF levels of patients (mean, 20.8 ng/ml; [S. D., 6.7]) were significantly lower than those of controls (mean, 26.8 ng/ml; [S. D., 9.3]; p = 0.015), and were negatively correlated with HAM-D scores (r = -0.49, p = 0.007). After 8 weeks of treatment, sBDNF levels of patients had increased significantly (mean, 33.3 ng/ml; [S. D., 9.9]; p < 0.001) and no longer differed from those of controls. These results support the hypothesis that BDNF might play a critical role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder and successful antidepressant treatment increases the attenuated BDNF levels in depressed patients.
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    No pituitary gland volume change in medication-free depressed patients
    (2008) Eker C.; Ovali G.Y.; Ozan E.; Eker O.D.; Kitis O.; Coburn K.; Gonul A.S.
    Increased serum cortisol levels and a hyperactive hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been proposed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However, there are inconsistent results regarding pituitary gland volume (PGV), which is one of the key elements of the HPA axis evaluated by MRI in depressed patients. In this study, we analyzed the PGV of medication-free moderately depressed MDD patients (N = 34) and age and sex matched healthy controls (N = 39). PGV did not differ between MDD patients and healthy controls [mean volume ± S.D.; 0.76 ± 0.17 cm3 and 0.75 ± 0.14 cm3; ANCOVA, F1,69 = 1.25 p > 0.05; respectively]. Our results confirm that volumetric PGV changes are not crucial for depression pathophysiology among unmedicated, moderately depressed adults. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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    Correlation of serum BDNF levels with hippocampal volumes in first episode, medication-free depressed patients
    (2010) Eker C.; Kitis O.; Taneli F.; Eker O.D.; Ozan E.; Yucel K.; Coburn K.; Gonul A.S.
    The hippocampus seems to be affected in MDD, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has positive effects on neurogenesis within the hippocampus. Although there are inconsistencies among study results, a smaller hippocampal volume in depressed patients is thought to be related to the pathophysiology of the disease. We looked at the correlation between serum BDNF (sBDNF) levels and hippocampal volumes (HCV) of first-episode MDD patients (18 female, 7 male; mean age = 32.1 ± 9.3) and healthy controls (17 female, 5 male; mean age = 29.7 ± 6.4). Region of interest analysis was conducted on the images acquired via MRI. sBDNF levels and HCV correlated only in the MDD group (right: r = 0.46, P = 0.02; left: r = 0.47, P = 0.02); however, HCV did not differ between MDD patients and healthy controls (right: F = 2.45, df = 1.46, P > 0.05; left: F = 0.05, df = 1.46, P > 0.05). BDNF may be a factor underlying HCV differences between MDD and healthy control subjects, which become apparent as severe and multiple episodes are experienced. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.