Availability of brain serotonin transporters (5-HTT) is associated with low positive mood in healthy elderly subjects

초록

Objective: We tried to find any significant correlation between serotonin transporter (5-HTT) availability and depressive symptoms in healthy elderly subjects. Materials: 16 healthy elderly subjects (>= 65 years) who were functioning independently in a community were randomly selected. An iodine-123-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyltropane) [I-123]-b-CIT single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was administered and depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale (K-GDS). Results: Total GDS scores were associated with the V-3 '' values in dorsal raphe (b = 0.60, t = 2.84, p = 0.01) but not in pons (b = 0.05, t = 0.19, p = 0.85) and medulla (b = 0.06, t = 0.20, p = 0.84). Among five subscale scores of K-GDS, only positive mood scores were significantly associated with the V-3 '' values in dorsal raphe, while not in pons and medulla. Conclusion: The present study suggests that 5-HTT availability should be involved in dimensional depressive symptoms in a specific brain region in healthy elderly subjects and should be replicated in subsequent adequately-powered and more well-designed studies.

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