ArticleEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience2015
Retinal dysfunction of contrast processing in major depression also apparent in cortical activity.
Article in European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic narrative review of the form, process, and function of sensory hyposensitivity in depression.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Self images: an empirical enquiry into Rembrandt's self-portraits.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Reduced contrast sensitivity, pattern electroretinogram ratio, and diminished a-wave amplitude in patients with major depressive disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Variations in Oppel-Kundt Illusion Strength Among Depressive and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder Groups: Impact of Benzodiazepine Use.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Anxiety and Depressive Traits in the Healthy Population Does Not Affect Spatial Orientation and Navigation.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Retinal electrophysiology in central nervous system disorders. A review of human and mouse studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Subsequent and simultaneous electrophysiological investigation of the retina and the visual cortex in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases: what are the forecasts for the medicine of tomorrow?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Cognitive [Computational] Neuroscience Test Reliability and Clinical Applications for Serious Mental Illness (CNTRaCS) Consortium: Progress and Future Directions.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Article
- Altered Visual Cortical Excitability Is Associated With Psychopathological Symptoms in Major Depressive Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- A Possible Trait and Status Marker in Bipolar Disorder: The Electroretinogram-Pattern.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2022Article
- A Reflection Upon the Contribution of Retinal and Cortical Electrophysiology to Time of Information Processing in Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Factors related to retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in bipolar disorder patients and major depression patients.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- Reduced visual contrast suppression during major depressive episodes.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2021Article
- Replication of Reduced Pattern Electroretinogram Amplitudes in Depression With Improved Recording Parameters.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- Attenuated Visual Function in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Article
- Little effect of 0.01% atropine eye drops as used in myopia prevention on the pattern electroretinogram.Documenta ophthalmologica. Advances in ophthalmology · 2019Article
- Neurotrophic factors and neuroplasticity pathways in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression.Psychopharmacology · 2018Review
- Antidepressant treatment effects on dopamine transporter availability in patients with major depression: a prospectiveJournal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2018Article
- Indolethylamine-Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Review
- Classification and neurobiological concepts of mania, bipolar disorder and major depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depressive disorder is often associated with the subjective experience of altered visual perception. Recent research has produced growing evidence for involvement of the visual system in the pathophysiology of depressive disorder. Using the pattern electroretinogram (PERG), we found reduced retinal contrast response in patients with major depression. Based on this observation, the question arises whether this change has a cortical correlate. To evaluate this, we analyzed the visual evoked potential (VEP) of the occipital cortex in 40 patients with depressive disorder and 28 healthy controls. As visual stimuli, checkerboard stimuli of 0.51° check size, 12.5 reversals per second and a contrast of 3-80% was used. In addition to the PERG, we recorded the VEP with an Oz versus FPz derivation. The amplitude versus contrast transfer function was compared across the two groups and correlated with the severity of depression, as measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. Patients with major depression displayed significantly reduced VEP amplitudes at all contrast levels compared to control subjects (p = 0.029). The VEP amplitude correlated with psychometric measures for severity of depression. The degree of depression reduced the contrast transfer function in the VEP to a lesser extent than in the PERG: While the PERG is reduced to ≈50%, the VEP is reduced to 75%. Our results suggest that depression affects the cortical response in major depression, but less so than the retinal responses. Modified contrast adaptation in the lateral geniculate nucleus or cortex possibly moderates the increased losses in the retina.
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