Background. This study aims to investigate if there is a differential outcome of serotonergic and noradrenergic antidepressant treatment and if menopausal status has an impact on antidepressant response in depressed women. Methods. Data of the 111 depressed women who were included and completed the previous four open-label studies where patients were evaluated six times during a 10-week period, were pooled in the current study. Each of the reboxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine groups consisted of 37 depressed women. Patients were also divided into two subgroups of age, determining the 44 years as the cut-off point representing the menopausal status. Results. No significant difference was observed in the percent change of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS) and remission rates among treatment groups. Percent changes in Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness scale (CGI-S) and response rates were in favour of venlafaxine group at week 10. Individual HDRS items 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 demonstrated significant improvement in the sertraline group, whereas HDRS item 7 demonstrated significant improvement in the venlafaxine group. An early reduction in anxiety subscale was observed in the venlafaxine group. Menopausal status had no impact on the outcome measures. Conclusions. These results suggest that noradrenergic and serotonergic activity do not differ from each other in treating depressed women. However, serotonergic activity appears to be more prominent in some particular symptoms such as feelings of guilt, suicidal ideation and sleep. Also, menopause does not appear to affect antidepressants' benefit in depressed women.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the oxidative-antioxidative systems and effects of different antidepressants on these systems in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHOD: Ninety-six patients with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnosis of MDD and 54 healthy controls were included in the study. Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and susceptibility of red blood cells (RBCs) to oxidation were determined to investigate the oxidative status, plasma vitamin E, vitamin C, serum total carotenoid levels, total antioxidant capacity (TAOC), RBC superoxide dismutase (SOD) and whole blood glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were measured to investigate the antioxidative defence before and after 6 weeks of antidepressant treatment. RESULTS: Plasma MDA levels and susceptibility of RBCs to oxidation were significantly higher in the MDD group compared with the control group. RBC SOD activity was significantly increased in patients with MDD, and furthermore there was a significant positive correlation between the severity of the disease and SOD activity. CONCLUSION: MDD is accompanied with oxidative stress; however, oxidative-antioxidative systems do not seem to be affected by 6 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A total of 62 patients with major depressive disorder were analyzed in the study. Patients were evaluated for 11 weeks in an open label design to investigate the differential effects of reboxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine on thyroid hormones. Serum thyrotrophin (TSH), thyroxine (T4) and free (f)T4 levels were measured before and after treatment. All groups showed significant improvement in HAM-D scores. TSH level significantly reduced and T4 level significantly increased in the reboxetine group, however TSH level significantly increased and T4 level significantly reduced in the sertraline group. Percent changes of TSH (p=0.007) and T4 (p=0.001) were significantly different between the reboxetine and sertraline groups. In the sertraline group, baseline TSH levels were correlated with response to treatment as determined by the change in HAM-D scores (p=0.03, r=0.648). There was a significant association between the percent changes in TSH values and the reduction in HAM-D scores in the reboxetine group (p=0.03, r=-0.434). In the whole study group, female patients had lower values of basal T4 compared with men (p=0.043), however percent changes of T4 did not differ between genders. In the treatment-responders significant increase in the reboxetine group and significant decrease in the sertraline group regarding the T4 values were found. We observed that various antidepressants had different effects on thyroid hormone levels and this could be attributed to the different mechanisms of actions of these antidepressants.