Abstract
Background: Animal and clinical studies have demonstrated that the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) is inversely related to central serotonergic activity, with a high LDAEP reflecting weak serotonergic neurotransmission and vice versa, though the findings in humans have been less consistent. In addition, a high pretreatment LDAEP appears to predict a favorable response to antidepressant treatments that augment the actions of serotonin. The aim of this study was to test whether the baseline LDAEP is correlated with response to long-term maintenance treatment in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: Scalp N1, P2 and N1/P2 LDAEP and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography-localized N1, P2, and N1/P2 LDAEP were evaluated in 41 MDD patients before and after they received antidepressant treatment (escitalopram (n = 32, 10.0 ± 4.0 mg/day), sertraline (n = 7, 78.6 ± 26.7 mg/day), and paroxetine controlled-release formulation (n = 2, 18.8 ± 8.8 mg/day)) for more than 12 weeks. A treatment response was defined as a reduction in the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score of >50% between baseline and follow-up. Results: The responders had higher baseline scalp P2 and N1/P2 LDAEP than nonresponders (p = 0.017; p = 0.036). In addition, changes in total BDI score between baseline and follow-up were larger in subjects with a high baseline N1/P2 LDAEP than those with a low baseline N1/P2 LDAEP (p = 0.009). There were significantly more responders in the high-LDAEP group than in the low-LDAEP group (p = 0.041). Conclusions: The findings of this study reveal that a high baseline LDAEP is associated with a clinical response to long-term antidepressant treatment.
Highlights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder
The total Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score for the entire cohort decreased significantly between baseline and follow-up (t = 6.981, p < 0.01), but there were no significant changes in the N1, P2, and N1/P2 loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) at the Cz electrode (t = 1.265, degree of freedom = 40, p = 0.213; t = 0.617, df = 40, p = 0.541; t = −0.548, df = 40, p = 0.587, respectively) from baseline to follow-up
There were no significant differences in the baseline N1, P2, and N1/P2 LDAEP between males and females
Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder. MDD is a condition characterized by single or recurrent major depressive episodes with personal suffering and significant social and functional impairment [1]. To improve treatment efficiency for MDD, many investigators have tried to find a marker to predict a response to antidepressant treatment [5,6,7,8,9]. It has been suggested that the event-related potentials from an electroencephalogram (EEG) could be a useful marker to predict a antidepressant response because it is noninvasive and easy to apply and can measure central serotonergic activity [10,11]. The aim of this study was to test whether the baseline LDAEP is correlated with response to long-term maintenance treatment in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).
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