The pharmacotherapy of depression with EPA

Abstract

This lecture considers the pharmacotherapy of depression with EPA under the following headings: * Epidemiological evidence * Biochemical evidence * First trial of pure EPA in severe treatment-resistant depression * Subsequent randomized double-blind placebocontrolled trials * Putative mechanisms. Results obtained from our own group, including structural neuroimaging and 31-phosphorus neurospectroscopy findings, showing an association of EPA treatment of depression with a marked decrease in cerebral phosphodiesters, a marked increase in cerebral phosphomonoesters and reduced lateral ventricular volume, will also be presented.