Download a PDF of the 2012 Annual Report - Black Dog Institute

Professor Colleen Loo demonstratingtranscranial Direct Current Stimulation(tDCS)Research activity from 2012 includes:Effects of brain stimulation on memoryand brain activity in depression – Advances innon-invasive electrical stimulation of ongoing brainactivity – such as transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) – continue to offer new hope for the treatmentof major depression. Yet the mechanisms of clinicalchange are unknown. In this study, we investigated theacute effects of tDCS treatment on cortical activity inpatients with depression whilst they performed a difficultmemory task. The brain mechanisms measured inresponse to the task may indicate an improvement ofselective attention directly after tDCS treatment. Thisstudy underlines the promise of functional brain imagingtests in understanding and monitoring response tobrain stimulation treatment.Ketamine as a neuroprotective agent inECT – This study investigated the neuroprotective andsynergistic effects of adjunctive sub-anaesthetic dosesof the drug ketamine with ECT. Participants prescribedright-unilateral ultrabrief ECT were randomly assignedto receive ketamine or saline placebo with their anaesthesiaand were assessed on cognitive, safety, andantidepressant efficacy outcomes. It was found thatthe addition of ketamine significantly increased thespeed of antidepressant response over the first weekof treatment – however efficacy outcomes were thesame between ketamine and placebo by the end ofthe ECT course. Ketamine was not shown to have anyneuroprotective advantage in this study. Finally, theuse of adjunct sub-anaesthetic ketamine in this studydid not produce any significant psychomimetic sideeffects.BLACK DOG 201227