Rule of Norepinephrine in mood disorder Study: Janowsky et al. (1972) By: Meenu Senthil

Neurobiology suggests depression is caused by a deficiency in Neurobiological systems such as Neurotransmitters and hormones

For four decades, norepinephrine (NE) has been postulated to play an important, possibly primary, role in the pathophysiology and subsequent treatment of mood disorders. Norepinephrine (NE) is a catecholamine with dual roles as a hormone and a neurotransmitter.

As a stress hormone, norepinephrine affects parts of the brain where attention and responding actions are controlled.

the neurotransmitter noradrenaline/norepinephrine plays a role in emotional arousal, especially with regard to the fight- or-flight response. directly increasing heart rate, triggering the release of glucose from energy stores, and increasing blood flow to skeletal muscle.

when norepinephrine acts as a drug it will increase blood pressure by its prominent increasing effects on the vascular tone from α-adrenergic receptor activation. resulting increase in vascular resistance triggers a compensatory reflex that overcomes its direct stimulatory effects on the heart, called the baroreceptor reflex, which results in a drop in heart rate called reflex bradycardia.

Theorist: Janowsky  Study of: Noradrenalin levels and Depression  Year: 1972 

Janowsky et al. (1972) gave participants physostigmine . a drug that specifically decreases levels of noradrenaline caused subjects to feel profoundly depressed and experience feelings of self-hate and suicidal wishes within minutes of taking the drug’ could be related to over-secretion of cortisol (stress hormone), which lowers density of serotonin receptors

Aim:  To study the interaction of noradrenalin on depression  Procedures: The researchers gave participants and drug that reduced the levels of nE in the synaptic gap.  Findings:  Within minutes the participants reported feeling profoundly depressed and experienced feelings of self-hate and suicide wishes.  Conclusions:  Noradrenalin has an affect on depression, and may be a contributing etiology  Criticisms:  While noradrenalin levels can affect depression, there is no cause and effect relationship between the two. 

Evidence for dysregulation of the locus ceruleus-NE system in depression is quite apparent, however, contributing to disrupted attention, concentration, memory, arousal, and sleep.

Norepinephrine clearly has an important role in this disease, but absolute changes in its activity are less likely to be the primary cause of the disorder. Homeostatic changes likely occur after chronic treatment with antidepressants, allowing a new regulatory state to occur in which NE modulation is once again effective.

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