Biological Psychiatry
Volume 68, Issue 2 , Pages 205-208 , 15 July 2010

Seeing Gray When Feeling Blue? Depression Can Be Measured in the Eye of the Diseased

  • Emanuel Bubl

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • ,
  • Elena Kern

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • ,
  • Dieter Ebert

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • ,
  • Michael Bach

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • Universitäts-Augenklinik Freiburg, Sektion Funktionelle Sehforschung, Freiburg, Germany
  • ,
  • Ludger Tebartz van Elst

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to L. Tebartz van Elst, M.D., Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

Received 1 August 2009 ,Revised 28 January 2010 ,Accepted 1 February 2010.

References 

  1. Moussavi S, Chatterji S, Verdes E, Tandon A, Patel V, Ustun B. Depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health: Results from the World Health Surveys. Lancet. 2007;370:851–858
  2. Dunlop B, Nemeroff C. The role of dopamine in the pathophysiology of depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64:327–337
  3. Ebmeier K, Donaghey C, Steele J. Recent developments and current controversies in depression. Lancet. 2006;367:153–167
  4. Ebert D, Feistel H, Kaschka W, Barocka A, Pirner A. Single photon emission computerized tomography assessment of cerebral dopamine D2 receptor blockade in depression before and after sleep deprivation—preliminary results. Biol Psychiatry. 1994;35:880–885
  5. Malmfors T. Evidence of adrenergic neurons with synaptic terminals in the retina of rats demonstrated with fluorescence and electron microscopy. Acta Physiol Scand. 1963;58:99–100
  6. Coppen A. The biochemistry of affective disorders. Br J Psychiatry. 1967;113:1237–1264
  7. Speck LB, Dim B, Mercer M. Visual evoked responses of psychiatric patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1966;15:59–63
  8. Shagass C, Roemer RA, Straumanis JJ, Amadeo M. Evoked potential correlates of psychosis. Biol Psychiatry. 1978;13:163–184
  9. Buchsbaum MS, Post RM, Bunney WE. Average evoked responses in a rapidly cycling manic-depressive patient. Biol Psychiatry. 1977;12:83–99
  10. Lavoie M, Lam RW, Bouchard G, Sasseville A, Charron M, Gagné A, et al. Evidence of a biological effect of light therapy on the retina of patients with seasonal affective disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2009;66:253–258
  11. Normann C, Schmitz D, Fürmaier A, Döing C, Bach M. Long-term plasticity of visually evoked potentials in humans is altered in major depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62:373–380
  12. Lewy AJ, Wehr TA, Goodwin FK, Newsome DA, Rosenthal NE. Manic-depressive patients may be supersensitive to light. Lancet. 1981;1:383–384
  13. Bubl E, Tebartz Van Elst L, Gondan M, Ebert D, Greenlee MW. Vision in depressive disorder. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009;10:377–384
  14. Golomb JD, McDavitt JRB, Ruf BM, Chen JI, Saricicek A, Maloney KH, et al. Enhanced visual motion perception in major depressive disorder. J Neurosci. 2009;29:9072–9077
  15. Djamgoz M, Hankins M, Hirano J, Archer S. Neurobiology of retinal dopamine in relation to degenerative states of the tissue. Vis Res. 1997;37:3509–3529
  16. Witkovsky P. Dopamine and retinal function. Doc Ophthalmol. 2004;108:17–40
  17. Maffei L, Fiorentini A. Electroretinographic responses to alternating gratings before and after section of the optic nerve. Science. 1981;211:953–955
  18. Holder G, Brigell M, Hawlina M, Meigen T, Vaegan , Bach M. ISCEV standard for clinical pattern electroretinography—2007 Update. Doc Ophthalmol. 2007;114:111–116
  19. Dawson WW, Trick GL, Litzkow CA. Improved electrode for electroretinography. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997;18:988–991
  20. Swets J. Sensitivities and specificities of diagnostic tests. JAMA. 1982;248:548–550

 Authors MB and LTvE contributed equally to this work.

PII: S0006-3223(10)00129-0

doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.009

Biological Psychiatry
Volume 68, Issue 2 , Pages 205-208 , 15 July 2010