Study shows antidepressants may improve brain function

A class of drugs that are commonly prescribed to treat depression, and anxiety may also help improve brain function and memory, claimed a study.

The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, showed that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants have the potential to improve certain cognitive functions, such as verbal memory.

Verbal memory is the ability to remember words, sentences and stories presented through language.

Serotonin is often described as a ‘feel good’ chemical, and higher levels of serotonin circulating in the brain contribute to a sense of well-being, and can ease clinical depression in most sufferers.

Researchers from the Copenhagen University Hospital in the Netherlands measured brain function in 90 patients before and after taking the SSRI escitalopram daily for eight weeks.

The team scanned the participant’s brain to measure the quantity of the serotonin receptor, the 5HT4 receptor. The patients were also given a series of tests to measure mood and cognitive abilities.

About 40 patients were rescanned to measure the quantity of 5HT4 receptor in the brain.

The results showed that the levels of 5HT4 receptor had dropped by around 9 per cent in the brain and the mood of the patients also improved.

Further cognitive tests showed improvements, so that the less the 5HT4 receptor had changed, the better the cognitive outcome. This phenomenon was particularly prominent for the ability to recall words, the researchers said.

SSRI medication may be an “important pro-cognitive target to consider in optimising outcomes of antidepressant treatment,” said researcher Vibeke Dam at the Copenhagen University Hospital.

Dam added that the findings “reinforce the idea that serotonin is crucial to mood improvement”.

The team also called for further research.

The study was presented at ongoing the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Conference in Milan, Italy.