These NAA measures reflect neuronal integrity and metabolism whereas changes in glutamate-glutamine-GABA metabolites may reflect changes in membrane structure, glial functions, and glutamate content. Together, the above data suggest that structural and metabolic alterations observed in vivo may be related to alterations in cell viability, which, itself, may be related to alterations in cell number, density, and size observed in postmortem tissues at the microscopic level.

The studies reviewed above undeniably prove the usefulness of postmortem tissue in selleck compound unraveling the microscopic anatomical substrate of depression. For the first Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical time, postmortem cell-counting studies in mood disorders have established that MDD and BPD are brain diseases with unique pathological alterations in neuronal and glial cells. The precise region- Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and layer-specific alterations in neuronal and glial architecture observed in mood disorders are consistent with the hypotheses of specific dysfunction in monoamine, glutamate, and GABA neurotransmitter systems in these disorders. Moreover, colocalization of cellular changes detected in postmortem tissues with in vivo neuroimaging findings proves that postmortem studies provide an important interface Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical between clinical and basic research in unraveling the ncuroanatomical substrates of depression. Postmortem

studies in depression also indicate that while MDD and BPD are clearly not neurodegenerative disorders, these disorders are associated with impaired cellular neuroplasticity and resilience. It remains to be fully elucidated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to what, extent these findings represent neurodevelopmental abnormalities, progression of the disorder, biochemical changes (in glucocorticoid or trophic factors levels) accompanying repeated disease episodes, or the results of treatment with therapeutic medications. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical It is unknown whether the cellular changes observed postmortem in mood disorders can be reversed by antidepressant and mood-stabilizing medications. Although molecular and genetic mechanisms associated with depression all are yet to be unraveled, preliminary microarray studies of

gene expression in postmortem brain tissues from subjects with mood disorders confirm that the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex are sites of pathology in mood disorders.93,94 Selected abbreviations and acronyms AVP arginine-vasopressin BDNF brain-derived neurotrophic factor BPD bipolar disorder CRH corticotropin-releasing hormone GABA γ-aminobutyric acid GFAP glial fibrillary acidic protein HPA hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (axis) MDD major depressive disorder NAA N-acetylaspartate NMDA N-methyl-D-aspartate Notes The authors acknowledge the support of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, and Public Health Service Grants MH60451, MH61578, MH63187, MH67996, and P20 RR17701.