Effects of Acute Tryptophan Depletion on Mood and Facial Emotion Perception Related Brain Activation and Performance in Healthy Women with and without a Family History of Depression
Open accessAbstract
The present study examined the effects of acute tryptophan (Trp) depletion (ATD), a well-recognized method to lower central serotonin (5-HT) metabolism, on brain activation during a facial emotion perception task. Brain activation was measured using fMRI, and healthy female volunteers with a positive family history of unipolar depression (FH+) were compared to healthy female volunteers without such a history (FH-). Participants viewed two morphed faces and were instructed to choose between the faces based either on the intensity of the emotional expression (direct task) or the gender of the face (incidental task). In the FH+ group, depletion led to the expected lowering of mood, which partly determined the effect of depletion on performance and brain activation. A stronger mood lowering effect was associated with less accurate performance on faces expressing a negative emotion in the incidental task and a stronger right amygdala response to fearful faces in comparison to happy faces. These results were explained in terms of a mood-induced bias leading to a stronger impact of the expressed negative emotion which subsequently leads to more interference in the incidental task and a stronger amygdala response. It was concluded that the effects of ATD on mood, performance, and brain activation in a facial emotion perception task depend on family history of depression. Performance and brain activation partly depend on the effect of ATD on mood.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Van der Veen et al. (2007) and Monk et al. (2008) reported abnormal amygdala responses to negative facial expression in people at risk of depression on the basis of family history.
“Van der Veen et al. (2007) and Monk et al. (2008) have reported abnormal amygdala responses to negative facial expression in people at risk of depression on the basis of family history.”
From Affective Cognition and its Disruption in Mood Disorders (2011) · cites this paper as Van der Veen et al. (2007)
A further study found no effect of ATD on choosing between different intensities of an emotion without explicitly identifying the emotion.
“and a further study requiring participants to choose between different intensities of an emotion without explicitly identifying the emotion found no effect of ATD (van der Veen et al., 2007).”
From Affective Cognition and its Disruption in Mood Disorders (2011) · cites this paper as van der Veen et al., 2007
With ATD, an increase in right amygdala activation to emotional faces irrespective of valence was found in two studies.
“With ATD an increase in right amygdala activation to emotional faces irrespective of valence has been found in two studies (Fusar-Poli et al., 2007;van der Veen et al., 2007) but decreased left amygdala activation was found in one of these (Fusar-Poli et al., 2007).”
From Affective Cognition and its Disruption in Mood Disorders (2011) · cites this paper as van der Veen et al., 2007
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Carver, C. S., & White, T. L. (1994) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.319 · Cited by 7,306 · see citing works
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (2019) · PsycTESTS Dataset · doi:10.1037/t27734-000 · Cited by 6,019 · see citing works
Maldjian, J., Laurienti, P., Kraft, R., & Burdette, J. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00169-1 · Cited by 5,453 · see citing works
Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress
Bloom, F. E., & Kupfer, D. J. (1995) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 2,985 · see citing works
Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala.
Hariri, A. R., Mattay, V. S., Tessitore, A., Kolachana, B., Fera, F., Goldman, D., Egan, M. F., & Weinberger, D. R. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1071829 · Cited by 2,340 · see citing works
Pezawas, L., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Drabant, E. M., Verchinski, B. A., Munoz, K. E., Kolachana, B. S., Egan, M. F., Mattay, V. S., Hariri, A. R., & Weinberger, D. R. (2005) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1463 · Cited by 1,980 · see citing works
Sheline, Y. I., Barch, D. M., Donnelly, J. M., Ollinger, J. M., Snyder, A. Z., & Mintun, M. A. (2001) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01263-x · Cited by 1,191 · see citing works
The spectrum of behaviors influenced by serotonin
Lucki, I. (1998) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(98)00139-5 · Cited by 1,154 · see citing works
Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress
Kramlinger, K. G. (1995) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings · doi:10.4065/70.10.1021-a · Cited by 779 · see citing works
Fu, C. H. Y., Williams, S. C. R., Cleare, A. J., Brammer, M. J., Walsh, N. D., Kim, J., Andrew, C. M., Pich, E. M., Williams, P. M., Reed, L. J., et al. (2004) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.61.9.877 · Cited by 775 · see citing works
Tryptophan depletion causes a rapid lowering of mood in normal males
Young, S. N., Smith, S. E., Pihl, R. O., & Ervin, F. R. (1985) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/bf00431803 · Cited by 715 · see citing works
McNaughton, N., & Gray, J. A. (2000) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/s0165-0327(00)00344-x · Cited by 553 · see citing works
Surguladze, S. A., Young, A. W., Senior, C., Brébion, G., Travis, M. J., & Phillips, M. L. (2004) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/0894-4105.18.2.212 · Cited by 525 · see citing works
Facial emotion discrimination: II. Behavioral findings in depression
Gur, R. C., Erwin, R. J., Gur, R. E., Zwil, A. S., Heimberg, C., & Kraemer, H. C. (1992) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/0165-1781(92)90116-k · Cited by 500 · see citing works
Sotres-Bayon, F., Cain, C. K., & LeDoux, J. E. (2006) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.10.012 · Cited by 433 · see citing works
Winston, J. S., O’Doherty, J. P., & Dolan, R. J. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00303-3 · Cited by 398 · see citing works
Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature
Lacasse, J. R., & Leo, J. (2005) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020392 · Cited by 377 · see citing works
Subjective rating of emotionally salient stimuli modulates neural activity
Taylor, S. F., Phan, K. L., Decker, L. R., & Liberzon, I. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(02)00051-4 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Some observations on cortical inputs to the macaque monkey amygdala: An anterograde tracing study
Stefanacci, L., & Amaral, D. G. (2002) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.10339 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
Mood-Lowering Effect of Tryptophan Depletion
Benkelfat, C. (1994) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1994.03950090019003 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Autoradiographic distribution of serotonin transporters and receptor subtypes in human brain.
Varnäs, K., Halldin, C., & Hall, H. (2004) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20035 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
Tryptophan Depletion During Continuous CSF Sampling in Healthy Human Subjects
Carpenter, L. L. (1998) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/s0893-133x(97)00198-x · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Neumeister, A., Nugent, A. C., Waldeck, T., Geraci, M., Schwarz, M., Bonne, O., Bain, E. E., Luckenbaugh, D. A., Herscovitch, P., Charney, D. S., et al. (2004) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.61.8.765 · Cited by 273 · see citing works
Del-Ben, C. M., Deakin, J. F. W., Mckie, S., Delvai, N. A., Williams, S. R., Elliott, R., Dolan, M., & Anderson, I. M. (2005) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300728 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
van Eijk, H. M. H., Rooyakkers, D. R., & Deutz, N. E. P. (1993) · Journal of Chromatography B Biomedical Sciences and Applications · doi:10.1016/0378-4347(93)80062-9 · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Self-citationCiraulo, D. A. (2003) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.289.23.3175-b · Cited by 232 · see citing works
Schmitt, J. A. J., Jorissen, B. L., Sobczak, S., van Boxtel, M. P. J., Hogervorst, E., Deutz, N. E. P., & Riedel, W. J. (2000) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/026988110001400102 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Self-citationNeumeister, A., Konstantinidis, A., Stastny, J., Schwarz, M. J., Vitouch, O., Willeit, M., Praschak-Rieder, N., Zach, J., de Zwaan, M., Bondy, B., et al. (2002) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.59.7.613 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Evers, E. A. T., Cools, R., Clark, L., van der Veen, F. M., Jolles, J., Sahakian, B. J., & Robbins, T. W. (2005) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300663 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Self-citationGrimm, S., Schmidt, C. F., Bermpohl, F., Heinzel, A., Dahlem, Y., Wyss, M., Hell, D., Boesiger, P., Boeker, H., & Northoff, G. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.09.006 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Bhagwagar, Z., Cowen, P. J., Goodwin, G. M., & Harmer, C. J. (2004) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.1.166 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Predictors of Mood Response to Acute Tryptophan Depletion A Reanalysis
Booij, L. (2002) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/s0893-133x(02)00361-5 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Tryptophan depletion decreases the recognition of fear in female volunteers
Harmer, C. J., Rogers, R. D., Tunbridge, E. M., Cowen, P. J., & Goodwin, G. M. (2003) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-003-1401-6 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Hayward, G., Goodwin, G. M., Cowen, P. J., & Harmer, C. J. (2005) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.11.016 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Cools, R., Calder, A. J., Lawrence, A. D., Clark, L., Bullmore, E., & Robbins, T. W. (2005) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-005-2215-5 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Klaassen, T., Riedel, W. J., van Someren, A., Deutz, N. E. P., Honig, A., & van Praag, H. M. (1999) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(99)00082-7 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Self-citationEvers, E. A. T., Tillie, D. E., van der Veen, F. M., Lieben, C. K. J., Jolles, J., Deutz, N. E. P., & Schmitt, J. A. J. (2004) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-004-2141-y · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Self-citationTalbot, P. S., & Cooper, S. J. (2006) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301022 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Acute tryptophan depletion in healthy young women with a family history of major affective disorder
Ellenbogen, M. A., Young, S. N., Dean, P., Palmour, R. M., & Benkelfat, C. (1999) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291798007685 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Lurito (2000) · doi:10.1002/1097-0193(200007)10:3
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Psychobiology and molecular genetics of resilience
Feder, A., Nestler, E. J., & Charney, D. S. (2009) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2649 · Cited by 1,272 · see citing works
Jenkins, T., Nguyen, J., Polglaze, K., & Bertrand, P. (2016) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu8010056 · Cited by 904 · see citing works
Serotoninergic regulation of emotional and behavioural control processes
Cools, R., Roberts, A. C., & Robbins, T. W. (2008) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.10.011 · Cited by 656 · see citing works
Cognitive Mechanisms of Treatment in Depression
Roiser, J. P., Elliott, R., & Sahakian, B. J. (2012) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2011.183 · Cited by 535 · see citing works
Bipolar and major depressive disorder: Neuroimaging the developmental-degenerative divide
Savitz, J., & Drevets, W. C. (2009) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.01.004 · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Facial emotion processing in major depression: a systematic review of neuroimaging findings
Stuhrmann, A., Suslow, T., & Dannlowski, U. (2011) · Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1186/2045-5380-1-10 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Affective Cognition and its Disruption in Mood Disorders
Elliott, R., Zahn, R., Deakin, J. F. W., & Anderson, I. M. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2010.77 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Effects of tryptophan loading on human cognition, mood, and sleep
Silber, B. Y., & Schmitt, J. A. J. (2010) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.08.005 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Self-citationBrowning, M., Holmes, E. A., & Harmer, C. J. (2010) · Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/cabn.10.1.8 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Serotonin and emotional processing: does it help explain antidepressant drug action?
Harmer, C. J. (2008) · Neuropharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2008.06.036 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Overlapping neural systems represent cognitive effort and reward anticipation
Vassena, E., Silvetti, M., Boehler, C. N., Achten, E., Fias, W., & Verguts, T. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091008 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Cools, R., Robinson, O. J., & Sahakian, B. (2008) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301598 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Dopamine, but not serotonin, regulates reversal learning in the marmoset caudate nucleus
Clarke, H. F., Hill, G. J., Robbins, T. W., & Roberts, A. C. (2011) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5066-10.2011 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Risk for depression and neural responses to fearful facial expressions of emotion
Chan, S. W. Y., Norbury, R., Goodwin, G. M., & Harmer, C. J. (2009) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.047993 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Roiser, J. P., Levy, J., Fromm, S. J., Wang, H., Hasler, G., Sahakian, B. J., & Drevets, W. C. (2008) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301581 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Robinson, O. J., Overstreet, C., Allen, P. S., Letkiewicz, A., Vytal, K., Pine, D. S., & Grillon, C. (2013) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.03.075 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Tryptophan Depletion and Emotional Processing in Healthy Volunteers at High Risk for Depression
Feder, A., Skipper, J., Blair, J. R., Buchholz, K., Mathew, S. J., Schwarz, M., Doucette, J. T., Alonso, A., Collins, K. A., Neumeister, A., et al. (2011) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.12.033 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Firk, C., & Markus, C. R. (2008) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-008-1125-8 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Cognitive Control as a 5-HT1A-Based Domain That Is Disrupted in Major Depressive Disorder
Langenecker, S. A., Mickey, B. J., Eichhammer, P., Sen, S., Elverman, K. H., Kennedy, S. E., Heitzeg, M. M., Ribeiro, S. M., Love, T. M., Hsu, D. T., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00691 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
A. T. Evers, E., M. van der Veen, F., Jolles, J., E. P. Deutz, N., & A. J. Schmitt, J. (2009) · Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.09.006 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- van der Veen, F. M., Evers, E. A. T., Deutz, N. E. P., & Schmitt, J. A. J.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Nestlé (Switzerland) (CH)
- Venue
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Published
- 2006-10-04
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 216-224
- ISSN
- 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
- 1740-634X
- OpenAlex
- W2049477559
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 3.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- ZonMw
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Hersenstichting
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- acute tryptophan depletion, emotional face processing, mood, family history of depression, serotonin, amygdala, fearful faces, major depressive disorder, women
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Brain, Brain Chemistry, Brain Mapping, Depression, Emotions, Facial Expression, Family Health, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Tryptophan
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
