Neurophysiological Link to Behavior

A circuit-level neurophysiological endophenotype for affective behavior
Depression is now recognized as a neurophysiological endophenotype with circuit-level problems underlying the psychiatric disease symptoms. PATH Medical has shown that depression occurs in patients who have cognitive problems and delayed P300, low voltage (relating to catecholamine dysfunction), too much anxiety and dysrhythmia on QEEG (typical of GABAergic dysfunction), or even difficulty in synchronizing their electrical activity (serotonin dysfunction). These actions probably work through both the thalamus and the hippocampus.


An article in the August 2007 issue of Science states: “ The hippocampus, as an integral component of the limbic system, is a focus of depression research, drives other brain regions implicated in depression, and appears to serve as a primary site of action for antidepressants that inhibit pathological hyperactivity. Complicating this picture, however, is evidence suggesting that antidepressants can stimulate hippocampal activity. Antidepressant-induced hippocampal neurogenesis is linked to behavioral responses; moreover, excitatory hippocampal neurons are injured by chronic stress. Animal models have proven useful in identifying molecular and cellular markers relevant to depression, but have not identified neurophysiological final common pathways relevant to behavior.”
An exciting new breakthrough is that we now recognize that the brain can grow new cells while treating depression. There are new great antidepressants that are now available. My brain formulas can also help regulate brain chemistry and improve functioning. The Brain Energy formula, used for symptoms relating to loss of brain energy and dopamine, contains DL-Phenylalanine, L-Tyrosine, Rhodiola Rosea, L-Methionine, and Octacosanol. My Brain Mood formula, used for symptoms relating to loss of brain symmetry and serotonin, contains Thiamin, Niacinamide, Folic Acid, Vitamin B-12, Pantothenic Acid, 5-Hydroxytryptophan, and St. John’s Wort.
We are able to confirm in our office through identifying individual’s depression with the Hamilton depression scale, the Millon depression scale, and the Myers-Briggs and genotyping that depression depends on changes in the ability to process and represent information through our neural networks. This idea has recently been proposed in Science.
Reference:
Science Vol 317, 10 August 2007 High-Speed Imaging Reveals Neurophysiological Links to Behavior in an Animal Model of Depression Raag D. Airan, Leslie A. Meltzer, Madhuri Roy, Yuqing Gong, Han Chen, Karl Deisseroth