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Journal Article 2007; 28(Suppl 4): 18-19 PubMed PMID: 18030251 Citation  Keywords:  Brain:pathology, Coma:chemically induced, Functional Laterality:drug effects, Humans, Marchiafava-Bignami Disease:chemically induced, Reflex:drug effects, Slovakia, Spasm:chemically induced, Wine:adverse effects,.   

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Journal Article 2007; 28(5): 604-609 PubMed PMID: 17994006 Citation  Keywords:  Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity:drug therapy, Basal Ganglia:abnormalities, Case-Control Studies, Caudate Nucleus:abnormalities, Central Nervous System Stimulants:therapeutic use, Child, Female, Functional Laterality, Humans, Male, Methylphen.   

: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neuropsychiatry disorder with several key symptoms, such as inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Neuropsychiatry studies have implicated the frontostriatal circuit in the pathological physiology of the disorder. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we examined the basal ganglia in 13 ADHD patients and eight unaffected comparison children. The volume of caudate, putamen and globus pallidus was measured. In the ADHD patients, we detected an increased left > right asymmetry of the basal ganglia. This reversal of asymmetry in the globus pallidus and caudate nucleus were statistically significant. These finding provide further evidence of morphological brain abnormalities in ADHD....

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Clinical Trial 2007; 28(5): 633-638 PubMed PMID: 17984932 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Aged, Antidepressive Agents:therapeutic use, Cerebrovascular Circulation:drug effects, Combined Modality Therapy, Depressive Disorder, Major:therapy, Female, Functional Laterality, Gyrus Cinguli:blood supply, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projec.   

OBJECTIVES: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a brain stimulation technique which has received increasing attention as an antidepressant treatment. However available studies are characterized by a substantial variability in response. We hypothesized that individual patients' characteristics might contribute to such heterogeneity. Therefore we investigated whether either alterations of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) or clinical characteristics may predict antidepressant response to rTMS.

DESIGN: 24 patients with major depression and stable medication received high frequency (10 Hz) rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for two weeks as add-on treatment. ECD-Single photon emission computed tomographay (SPECT) imaging was performed 1 to 2 days before rTMS.

SETTING: Tertial referral center

RESULTS: After two weeks of rTMS a mean reduction of 30% of the initial Hamilton Depression Rating Score (HAMD) was observed. Using a multivariate regression model with simultaneous evaluation of the relative impact of a-priori chosen potential factors influencing treatment outcome, two variables, the pretreatment anterior cingulate rCBF and the former response to antidepressant agents proved significant. High pretreatment anterior cingulate activity and low treatment resistance to pharmacologic therapy were positive predictors for treatment response to rTMS.

CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment anterior cingulate activity seems to be a useful prognostic marker of rTMS treatment response, which is in line with other treatment strategies, like sleep deprivation, electroconvulsive therapy or antidepressant medication....

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Controlled Clinical Trial 2007; 28(1): 11-15 PubMed PMID: 17277732 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Depression:physiopathology, Electrophysiology, Female, Functional Laterality:physiology, Galvanic Skin Response:physiology, Humans, Male, Nonlinear Dynamics, Schizophrenia:physiopathology, Skin:innervation,.   

OBJECTIVE: Recent evidence indicates that in psychiatric patients with schizophrenia and depression, lateralized EDA changes linked to temporal-limbic electrophysiological dysfunction occur. These clinical findings provide evidence for brain asymmetry and disruptions related to integrative brain activity in pathological conditions.

METHODS: These changes in brain asymmetry may be assessed by linear analysis of EDA measurement and nonlinear analysis of brain complexity calculated as information entropy. Two groups of patients with established diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (N=35), unipolar depression (N=35) and a control group of 35 healthy controls were examined by measurement of bilateral electrodermal activity (EDA). In non-linear data analysis of the EDA time series in resting state the method of recurrence quantification analysis was applied.

RESULTS: In these patients significant right-left EDA asymmetry and asymmetry of information entropy calculated by non-linear recurrence quantification analysis of EDA records have been found. Similar asymmetry has not been observed in the group of healthy controls.

CONCLUSIONS: Because information entropy reflects the complexity of the deterministic structure in the system, then unilaterally increased entropy in patients with schizophrenia and depression likely indicates specific nonlinear disturbances in limbic circuits that modulate EDA. These data are in accordance with recent findings that indicate apparent differences in nonlinear neural patterns in the psychiatric diseases and nonlinear behavior of healthy brain....

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Journal Article 2006; 27(4): 501-505 PubMed PMID: 16891994 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Cerebral Decortication, Corpus Callosum:cytology, Denervation, Frontal Lobe:cytology, Functional Laterality, Luteinizing Hormone:blood, Male, Neural Pathways, Occipital Lobe:cytology, Pituitary Gland, Anterior:metabolism, Rats, Rats, Wistar, Test.   

OBJECTIVES: In addition to being regulated by the hypothalamo-hypophyseal system, testosterone (T) secretion is influenced by a number of less understood mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to examine whether defined areas of the right cerebral cortex could modulate T production.

METHODS: In adult male Wistar rats right frontal or occipital decortication, anterior or posterior callosotomy and corresponding sham-operations were performed. After 7-day survival time, T secretion in vitro, serum T and LH concentrations were measured by RIA.

RESULTS: Right occipital decortication and posterior callosotomy resulted in an increase in T secretion in vitro when compared to the corresponding sham-operated controls. In contrast, right frontal decortication or anterior callosotomy did not interfere with steroidogenesis. Serum LH concentration was not altered by any interventions.

CONCLUSION: The right occipital but not the right frontal cortex is involved in the control of T secretion. The caudal part of the corpus callosum accommodating the fibers originating from the occipital cortex might have a similar function. The fact that LH remained unchanged in all experimental groups suggests that the right occipital cortex and the caudal part of the corpus callosum influence testicular steroidogenesis by a pituitary-independent mechanism....

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Clinical Trial 2004; 25(5): 340-348 PubMed PMID: 15580167 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Antidepressive Agents:therapeutic use, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex:diagnostic imaging, Cognitive Therapy, Female, Fluorodeoxyglucose F18, Functional Laterality, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Panic Disorder:diagnostic imaging, Positron-.   

BACKGROUND: The goal of our study was to identify brain structures in patients with panic disorder (PD) that show changes in 18FDG PET during the treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or antidepressants.

METHOD: Twelve patients suffering from panic disorder were studied with [18F]-2-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG PET) scanning during resting state (condition of random episodic silent thinking, REST). After PET examination patients were randomly assigned to either cognitive behavioral treatment group (6 patients) or antidepressants treatment group (6 patients). After a 3 month period 18FDG PET examination was repeated in both groups. Psychopathology was assessed using the rating scales HAMA, CGI and Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS). Data were analysed using software for statistical parametric mapping (SPM99).

RESULTS: The scores of psychopathology rating scales (CGI, HAMA, PDSS) decreased in both groups. Changes of 18FDG uptake in the pharmacotherapy group: decreases were found in the a priori hypothesized regions in the right hemisphere, in the superior, middle, medial and inferior frontal gyrus, superior and middle temporal gyrus, and increases were detected in the a priori hypothesized regions, mainly in the left hemisphere in medial and middle frontal gyrus, superior, middle and transverse temporal gyrus. Changes of 18FDG uptake in the CBT group: decreases were found in the a priori hypothesized regions of the right hemisphere in the inferior temporal gyrus, superior and inferior frontal gyrus, and increases were detected in the a priori hypothesized region, mostly in the left hemisphere: inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and insula. We did not detect changes in 18FDG uptake in the limbic region (hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala).

CONCLUSIONS: Changes in brain metabolism (18FDG uptake) after the treatment either with CBT or with antidepressants were similar in number of brain areas, with prominent right-left difference. This is in concordance with the asymmetry of brain activity noted in patients with PD according to previous PET (and SPECT) studies....

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