Institute of Mental Health Research, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ont., Canada.
Neuropsychobiology. 2012;65(1):28-40. doi: 10.1159/000328992. Epub 2011 Nov 15.
Depression, which is associated with dysfunctional serotonin (5-HT) activity, may be characterized by impaired emotional information processing. This study assessed the effects of acute tryptophan depletion (TRP-), which transiently lowers CNS 5-HT, on the emotion-sensitive vertex positive potential (VPP) and late positive potential (LPP) event-related potentials (ERPs) and mood in individuals with a family history of depression. The VPP and LPP are thought to index the early and later stages of motivated attentional processing, respectively.
Within a double-blind balanced design, ERPs were acquired in 18 individuals with a family history of depression (12 females) after TRP- and TRP+ (balanced) treatment while participants were presented with facial expressions (neutral, as well as sad, joy and surprise at 50 and 100% intensity) and responded to surprised faces.
TRP- increased total mood disturbance and maintained depression scores. The VPP and LPP were larger to intense versus mild expressions. Enhanced processing of emotional versus neutral faces, as indexed by the VPP, was primarily evident with TRP-. Speeded and enhanced processing of intensely joyful versus mildly sad faces was found with TRP- (VPP indexed). Compared with TRP+, TRP also increased the VPP to mildly joyful faces.
Transient 5-HT decreases in individuals with a family history of depression induce subtle changes in early stages of motivated emotional processing, though not in later ones.
抑郁症与 5-羟色胺（5-HT）功能障碍有关，其特征可能是情绪信息处理受损。本研究评估了急性色氨酸耗竭（TRP-）对有抑郁症家族史个体的情绪敏感的顶点正电位（VPP）和晚期正电位（LPP）事件相关电位（ERP）和情绪的影响。VPP 和 LPP 分别被认为是动机注意加工的早期和晚期阶段的指标。
在双盲平衡设计中，在 18 名有抑郁症家族史的个体（12 名女性）中，在 TRP-和 TRP+（平衡）处理后获得了 ERP，同时呈现了面部表情（中性，以及悲伤、喜悦和惊讶，强度为 50%和 100%），并对惊讶的面孔做出了反应。
TRP-增加了总情绪困扰并维持了抑郁评分。与轻度表情相比，VPP 和 LPP 对强烈表情的反应更大。VPP 主要显示出对情绪面孔的增强加工，而非中性面孔。与 TRP+相比，TRP-还发现了对强烈喜悦面孔的更快和增强加工（VPP 索引）。与 TRP+相比，TRP 还增加了对轻度喜悦面孔的 VPP。
有抑郁症家族史的个体中 5-HT 的短暂减少会引起情绪加工的早期阶段的微妙变化，但不会引起晚期阶段的变化。
