SSRIs May Change Region of Brain

the Psychiatry Advisor take:

The antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) may increase the volume of a region of the brain in depressed people — yet shrink other areas in those who aren’t depressed.

Carol A. Shively, PhD, of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues fed 41 female monkeys a diet similar to that consumed by many Americans for a year and a half. Depressive behavior was noted. Female monkey were chosen, rather than males, since depression is twice as common in women.

After 18 months, the monkeys were divided into two groups. One received sertraline daily, while the other received placebo. This regiment is equivalent to a human taking the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) for five years.

Based on MRI scans, in depressed monkeys, sertraline significantly increased the volume of one region of the brain, the anterior cingulate cortex, while decreasing the volume of the same area and the hippocampus in non-depressed subjects, the researchers reported in the journal Neuropharmacology.

SSRIs are prescribed for more than just depression, including bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, yet there are no studies of the effects of the drug class on brain volumes in individuals with these conditions.