Acute antidepressant drug administration and autobiographical memory recall: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Antidepressants affect memory and neural responses to emotionally valenced stimuli in healthy volunteers. However, it is unclear whether this extends to autobiographical memory for personally experienced events. The current study investigated the effects of acute administration of the antidepressant reboxetine on emotional autobiographical retrieval in healthy volunteers (14 men, 10 women).

Common variants of the genes encoding erythropoietin and its receptor modulate cognitive performance in schizophrenia.

Erythropoietin (EPO) improves cognitive performance in clinical studies and rodent experiments. We hypothesized that an intrinsic role of EPO for cognition exists, with particular relevance in situations of cognitive decline, which is reflected by associations of EPO and EPO receptor (EPOR) genotypes with cognitive functions. To prove this hypothesis, schizophrenic patients (N > 1000) were genotyped for 5' upstream-located gene variants, EPO SNP rs1617640 (T/G) and EPORSTR(GA)(n).

Is there a difference in subjective experience of cognitive function in patients with unipolar disorder versus bipolar disorder?

Background: Cognitive dysfunction in unipolar disorder (UD) and bipolar disorder (BD) may persist into remission and affect psychosocial function. Executive and memory deficits during remission may be more pronounced in BD than UD. However, patients' subjective experience of cognitive difficulties is poorly understood, and it is unclear whether BD and UD patients experience different cognitive difficulties.

Is there an association between subjective and objective measures of cognitive function in patients with affective disorders?

Background: Patients with affective disorders experience cognitive dysfunction in addition to their affective symptoms. The relationship between subjectively experienced and objectively measured cognitive function is controversial with several studies reporting no correlation between subjective and objective deficits.

Aims: To investigate whether there is a correlation between subjectively reported and objectively measured cognitive function in patients with affective disorders, and whether subjective complaints predict objectively measured dysfunction.

Erythropoietin: a candidate treatment for mood symptoms and memory dysfunction in depression.

Objective: Current pharmacological treatments for depression have a significant treatment-onset-response delay, an insufficient efficacy for many patients and fail to reverse cognitive dysfunction. Erythropoietin (EPO) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic actions and improves cognitive function in animal models of acute and chronic neurodegenerative conditions and in patients with cognitive decline.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the published findings from animal and human studies exploring the potential of EPO to treat depression-related cognitive dysfunction and depression.

Effects of erythropoietin on depressive symptoms and neurocognitive deficits in depression and bipolar disorder.

Background: Depression and bipolar disorder are associated with reduced neural plasticity and deficits in memory, attention and executive function. Drug treatments for these affective disorders have insufficient clinical effects in a large group and fail to reverse cognitive deficits. There is thus a need for more effective treatments which aid cognitive function.

Erythropoietin modulates neural and cognitive processing of emotional information in biomarker models of antidepressant drug action in depressed patients.

Objective: Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects, and may be a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. We have demonstrated antidepressant-like effects of Epo on the neural and cognitive processing of facial expressions in healthy volunteers. The current study investigates the effects of Epo on the neural and cognitive response to emotional facial expressions in depressed patients.

Effects of erythropoietin on emotional processing biases in patients with major depression: an exploratory fMRI study.

Introduction: Erythropoietin (Epo) has neurotrophic effects and may be a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of depression. We have found antidepressant-like effects of Epo on emotional processing and mood in healthy volunteers.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore the effects of Epo on the neural processing of emotional information in depressed patients.

Differential effects of erythropoietin on neural and cognitive measures of executive function 3 and 7 days post-administration.

Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects and improves cognitive function in animal models of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric illness. In humans, weekly Epo administration over 3 months improves cognitive function in schizophrenia. The neural underpinnings and time-course of this effect of Epo are currently unknown.

Single dose antidepressant administration modulates the neural processing of self-referent personality trait words.

Drugs which inhibit the re-uptake of monoamines in the brain are effective in the treatment of depression; however, the neuropsychological mechanisms which lead to the resolution of depressive symptomatology are unclear. Behavioral studies in healthy volunteers suggest that acute administration of the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor reboxetine modulates emotional processing. The current study therefore explored the neural basis of this effect.

Erythropoietin reduces neural and cognitive processing of fear in human models of antidepressant drug action.

Background: Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects in animal models and affects cognitive and associated neural responses in humans. These effects have highlighted Epo as a candidate for treatment of psychiatric disease including schizophrenia and depression. The current study aimed to explore the effects of Epo on neural and behavioral measures of emotional processing relevant for depression and the effects of conventional antidepressant medication.

Erythropoietin improves mood and modulates the cognitive and neural processing of emotion 3 days post administration.

Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects and is a promising candidate for treatment of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorder. Recently, we demonstrated that Epo modulates memory-relevant hippocampal response and fear processing in human models of antidepressant drug action 1 week post-administration, and improves self-reported mood for 3 days immediately following administration. The present study explored the effects of Epo (40 000 IU) vs saline on self-reported mood and on neural and cognitive function in healthy volunteers 3 days post-administration to test the reliability of the rapid mood improvement and its neuropsychological basis.

Erythropoietin enhances hippocampal response during memory retrieval in humans.

Although erythropoietin (Epo) is best known for its effects on erythropoiesis, recent evidence suggests that it also has neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties in animal models of hippocampal function. Such an action in humans would make it an intriguing novel compound for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The current study therefore aimed to explore the effects of Epo on neural and behavioral measures of hippocampal function in humans using a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm.

Erythropoietin improves place learning in fimbria-fornix-transected rats and modifies the search pattern of normal rats.

The acquisition of a water-maze-based allocentric place learning task was studied in four groups of rats: two groups subjected to bilateral transections of the fimbria-fornix and two groups undergoing a sham control operation. At the moment of surgery all animals were given one systemic (intraperitoneal) injection of either human recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) (at a dosage of 5000 IU/kg body weight), given to one of the fimbria-fornix-transected groups and one of the sham-operated groups, or vehicle (saline), given to the two remaining groups. The 25-day task acquisition period (one session/day) began 6 or 7 days after the day of surgery.