Project Summary

Dara M. Cannon, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of National Institute of Mental Health, aims to study the role of the muscarinic-cholinergic receptor in major and bipolar depression. Several pieces of evidence implicate the receptor in depression: Drugs that release acetylcholine, which works at the receptor, cause people who are depressed to feel more so and some healthy people to feel depressed, too. In the proposed study, Dr. Cannon proposes using PET scanning to compare the level and location of the receptors in the brains of 20 individuals with depression, 20 individuals with manic depression and 20 healthy controls. Results should advance knowledge of the abnormalities in the brains of people with depression.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Unipolar Depression

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