SSRIs May Change Region of Brain

Emerging research suggests sertraline, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant, may change brain structures in depressed and non-depressed individuals in different ways.

Researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center studied nonhuman primates with brain structures and functions similar to those of humans.

They found sertraline — marketed as Zoloft — significantly increased the volume of one brain region in depressed subjects but decreased the volume of two brain areas in non-depressed subjects. In the study, 41 middle-aged female monkeys were fed a diet formulated to replicate that normally consumed by many Americans for 18 months, during which time depressive behavior in the animals were recorded.

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