Cerebral Blood Flow Changes as a Potential Biomarker of Major Depressive Disorder

BrainPost, 13 August 2019

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mood disorder that is believed to be associated with changes in the brain. Researchers have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to identify brain-related biomarkers for other conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, brain-related biomarkers have not yet been identified for use in the diagnosis or treatment of MDD. One noninvasive neuroimaging technique used to measure brain function is arterial spin labelling (ASL). In ASL a magnetic pulse labels blood before it enters the brain. The amount of labelled blood in each region of the brain can then be quantified; greater blood flow is typically indicative of greater activity in that brain region. Read more.