Project 3 – High sympathetic activity in major depressive disorder- a cause for concern?
Supervisor: Gavin Lambert Email: gavin.lambert@bakeridi.edu.au; Phone: 8532 1346 There is strong evidence that patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) are at increased risk of developing coronary heart disease. While the mechanism of increased cardiac risk attributable to MDD at this stage is not known, recent work by us, and others, implicates brain serotonin, serotonin transporter genotype (5-HTT) and the sympathetic nervous system as possible candidates involved in generating increased risk. Using high internal jugular vein blood sampling we demonstrated that brain serotonin turnover was elevated in patients with MDD and was influenced by the 5-HTT genotype, with carriage of the short allele being associated with an over 2-fold increase in brain serotonin turnover (Barton, Arch Gen Psych 2008). In parallel, using direct cardiac catheterization techniques coupled with state of the art noradrenaline isotope dilution methodology we also showed that whole body and cardiac sympathe
