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Auditory processing of sine tones before, during and after ECT in depressed patients by fMRI

  • Biological Psychiatry - Original Article
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Abstract

Our goal was to assess treatment effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on acoustic processing in major depression. We hypothesized that (1) depression is related to functional alterations in auditory networks, and that (2) pre-treatment alterations in auditory networks are reversible through treatment with ECT. Acoustic perception of 20 severely depressed and 20 age and gender matched healthy controls was investigated by 3 T functional magnetic resonance imaging employing repeated stimulation by sine tones. Prior to ECT, depressed patients presented a multimodal recruitment of additional brain areas including regions of the secondary visual system (cuneus, lingualis) and the medial frontal cortex. During ECT, signal intensities were reduced compared to pre-ECT values and controls. Activation of several regions increased after ECT. Our data suggest that depression is accompanied by cortical dysfunction including impaired auditory processing of non-speech stimuli. This might be based on overall alterations of brain metabolism indicating functional impairment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an “Innovative Medical Research (IMF)” grant (Mi220229) from the Medical Faculty at the University of Münster, FRG. C. K. and A. J. were supported by the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF) of the University of Münster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 33, 48129, Münster, Germany

    Martin Christ, Hermina Hihn, Anne Schüttke & Bettina Pfleiderer

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Martin Christ, Nikolaus Michael, Carsten Konrad & Bernhard T. Baune

  3. Department of Psychiatry III, Ev. Stiftung Tannenhof, Remscheid, Germany

    Nikolaus Michael

  4. Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF), University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Carsten Konrad & Andreas Jansen

  5. Department of Neurology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Andreas Jansen

  6. Department of Psychiatry, James Cook University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Bernhard T. Baune

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  1. Martin Christ
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Correspondence to Bettina Pfleiderer.

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Christ, M., Michael, N., Hihn, H. et al. Auditory processing of sine tones before, during and after ECT in depressed patients by fMRI. J Neural Transm 115, 1199–1211 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0036-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0036-5

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