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Increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurotrophin 3 (NT-3) in elderly patients with major depression

Molecular Psychiatry volume 5, pages 510–513 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Neurotrophin 3 (NT-3) is a member of the neurotrophin gene family which supports the survival of specific neurons. NT-3 was shown to prevent the death of adult central noradrenergic neurons in vivo, a neuronal population which is associated with the pathophysiology of major depression. We quantitated CSF levels of NT-3 in elderly patients with major depression (DE) and compared them to patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and mentally healthy control subjects (CTR). CSF levels of NT-3 were markedly and significantly elevated in the DE group, as compared to either the AD or the CTR group (P < 0.01, and P < 0.001, respectively). in terms of diagnostic accuracy, measurement of nt-3 levels in de resulted in 73.9% sensitivity, and 89.7% specificity. increased csf levels of nt-3 may indicate a disturbance of the central noradrenergic system in patients with de. nt-3 may constitute a biochemical candidate marker for clinical diagnosis and for the evaluation of therapeutic strategies in de.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants 3100–049397.96/1 (Schweizerischer Nationalfonds) (UO, CH, FM-S), and SFB505 (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) (UO). We thank F Jancu for technical support and K Kräuchi, PhD, for help in statistical analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry Research, University of Zürich, Switzerland

    C Hock & R M Nitsch

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Basel, Switzerland

    K Heese & U Otten

  3. BF Research Institute, National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan

    K Heese

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Basel, Switzerland

    F Müller-Spahn

  5. Clinical Chemistry, University of Basel, Switzerland

    P Huber

  6. Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, State Hospital St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland

    W Riesen

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  1. C Hock
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  2. K Heese
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Correspondence to C Hock.

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Hock, C., Heese, K., Müller-Spahn, F. et al. Increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurotrophin 3 (NT-3) in elderly patients with major depression. Mol Psychiatry 5, 510–513 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000743

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000743

Keywords

  • noradrenaline
  • basal forebrain
  • neurotrophins
  • ELISA
  • aging

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