Reward processing after catecholamine depletion in unmedicated, remitted subjects with major depressive disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We investigated whether performance on a reward processing task differs between fully remitted patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy control subjects after catecholamine depletion.

Methods

Seventeen unmedicated subjects with remitted MDD (RMDD) and 13 healthy control subjects underwent catecholamine depletion with oral alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine (AMPT) in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study. The main outcome measure was the reaction time on the monetary incentive delay (MID) task.

Results

A diagnosis x drug interaction was evident (p = .001), which was attributable to an increase in reaction time across all incentive levels after AMPT in RMDD subjects (p = .001) but no significant AMPT effect on reaction time i

SUBMITTER: Hasler G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3073352 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature