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Cited by 216Treatment of Major DepressionVisual perception and processing mechanismsRetinal Development and Disorders

Seeing Gray When Feeling Blue? Depression Can Be Measured in the Eye of the Diseased

Bubl, Emanuel, Kern, Elena, Ebert, Dieter, Bach, Michael, Tebartz van Elst, Ludger·2010·Biological Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.009
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Abstract

Background Everyday language relates depressed mood to visual phenomena. Previous studies point to a reduced sensitivity of subjective contrast perception in depressed patients. One way to assess visual contrast perception in an objective way at the level of the retina is to measure the pattern electroretinogram (PERG). To find an objective correlate of reduced contrast perception, we measured the PERG in healthy control subjects and unmedicated and medicated patients with depression.Methods Forty patients with a diagnosis of major depression (20 with and 20 without medication) and 40 matched healthy subjects were studied. Visual PERGs were recorded from both eyes.Results Unmedicated and medicated depressed patients displayed dramatically lower retinal contrast gain. We found a strong and significant correlation between contrast gain and severity of depression. This marker distinguishes most patients on a single-case basis from control subjects. A receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed a specificity of 92.5% and a sensitivity of 77.5% for classifying the participants correctly.Conclusions Because PERG recording does not depend on subjective ratings, this marker may be an objective correlate of depression in human beings. If replicated, PERG may be helpful in further animal and human research in depression.

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  • Dramatic differences in retinal contrast gain have been observed between depressed individuals and healthy controls.

    “These findings are in accordance with research at the sensory level, where dramatic differences in retinal contrast gain have been observed between depressed individuals and healthy controls48.”

    From Paying attention to attention in depression (2019) · cites this paper as [48]

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Authors
Bubl, E., Kern, E., Ebert, D., Bach, M., & Tebartz van Elst, L.
Affiliations
University of Freiburg (DE)
ORCID
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2010-07
Volume
68
Issue
2
Pages
205-208
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.009
OpenAlex
W2050478809
Cited by
216
References
23
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
FWCI
3.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Retinal Development and Disorders
Keywords
major depressive disorder, pattern electroretinogram, objective biomarkers, depression severity, antidepressants, retinal function
MeSH terms
Adult, Analysis of Variance, Major Depressive Disorder, Differential Threshold, Electroretinography, Humans, Retina, ROC Curve, Sensitivity and Specificity, Severity of Illness Index, Visual Fields, Visual Perception, Patient Selection

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