Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013 May 2;8(5):e61728. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061728. Print 2013.
In previous studies, we found a strong reduction in contrast perception and retinal contrast gain in patients with major depression, which normalized after remission of depression. We also identified a possible role of the dopaminergic system in this effect, because visual contrast perception depends on dopaminergic neurotransmission. Dopamine is also known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, in order to explore the specificity of retinal contrast gain as a marker of depression in comparison with other psychiatric diseases, we recorded the pattern electroretinogram (PERG) in patients with ADHD. Twenty patients diagnosed with ADHD and 20 matched healthy subjects were studied. Visual pattern electroretinograms were recorded from both eyes. The contrast gain of the patients with attention deficit disorder (ADD) did not differ from the control group, nor did the contrast gain of any ADHD subgroup (predominantly inattentive or combined patients). In the healthy subjects, a significant correlation between depression score and contrast gain was found. As the contrast gain in an earlier study clearly separated the patients with depression from the controls, we assume that retinal contrast gain might be a specific marker in depression.
在之前的研究中，我们发现重度抑郁症患者的对比感知和视网膜对比增益明显降低，而在抑郁缓解后则恢复正常。我们还发现多巴胺能系统在这一效应中可能起作用，因为视觉对比感知依赖于多巴胺能神经传递。多巴胺在注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的发病机制中也起着重要作用。因此，为了探讨视网膜对比增益作为抑郁症标志物的特异性，与其他精神疾病相比，我们在 ADHD 患者中记录了图形视网膜电图（PERG）。研究了 20 名被诊断为 ADHD 的患者和 20 名匹配的健康受试者。从双眼记录视觉图形视网膜电图。注意力缺陷障碍（ADD）患者的对比增益与对照组没有差异，也没有 ADHD 任何亚组（主要是注意力不集中或混合型患者）的对比增益差异。在健康受试者中，发现抑郁评分与对比增益之间存在显著相关性。由于之前的研究中的对比增益清楚地区分了抑郁症患者和对照组，我们假设视网膜对比增益可能是抑郁症的一个特异性标志物。
