TY - JOUR A1 - Kallies, Gunnar A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Fydrich, Thomas A1 - Fehm, Lydia A1 - Tschorn, Mira A1 - Teran, Christina A1 - Schwefel, Melanie A1 - Pietrek, Anou F. A1 - Henze, Romy A1 - Hellweg, Rainer A1 - Ströhle, Andreas A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Heissel, Andreas T1 - Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) at rest and after acute aerobic exercise in major depressive disorder JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology N2 - Physiological mechanisms of an anti-depressive effect of physical exercise in major depressive disorder (MDD) seem to involve alterations in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level. However, previous studies which investigated this effect in a single bout of exercise, did not control for confounding peripheral factors that contribute to BDNF-alterations. Therefore, the underlying cause of exercise-induced BDNF-changes remains unclear. The current study aims to investigate serum BDNF (sBDNF)-changes due to a single-bout of graded aerobic exercise in a group of 30 outpatients with MDD, suggesting a more precise analysis method by taking plasma volume shift and number of platelets into account. Results show that exercise-induced increases in sBDNF remain significant (p<.001) when adjusting for plasma volume shift and controlling for number of platelets. The interaction of sBDNF change and number of platelets was also significant (p=.001) indicating larger sBDNF-increase in participants with smaller number of platelets. Thus, findings of this study suggest an involvement of peripheral as well as additional possibly brain-derived mechanisms explaining exercise-related BDNF release in MDD. For future studies in the field of exercise-related BDNF research, the importance of controlling for peripheral parameters is emphasized. KW - Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) KW - Platelets KW - Major depressive disorder KW - Physical exercise Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.12.015 SN - 0306-4530 VL - 102 SP - 212 EP - 215 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Lawrence, Jimmy B. A1 - Kallies, Gunnar A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heissel, Andreas T1 - Using Exercise to Fight Depression in Older Adults BT - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis JF - GeroPsych : the journal of gerontopsychology and geriatric psychiatry N2 - Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder in the general population. Despite a large demand for efficient treatment options, the majority of older depressed adults does not receive adequate treatment: Additional low-threshold treatments are needed for this age group. Over the past two decades, a growing number of randomized controlled trials (RCT) have been conducted, testing the efficacy of physical exercise in the alleviation of depression in older adults. This meta-analysis systematically reviews and evaluates these studies; some subanalyses testing specific effects of different types of exercise and settings are also performed. In order to be included, exercise programs of the RCTs had to fulfill the criteria of exercise according to the American College of Sports Medicine, including a sample mean age of 60 or above and an increased level of depressive symptoms. Eighteen trials with 1,063 participants fulfilled our inclusion criteria. A comparison of the posttreatment depression scores between the exercise and control groups revealed a moderate effect size in favor of the exercise groups (standardized mean difference (SMD) of –0.68, p < .001). The effect was comparable to the results achieved when only the eleven trials with low risk of bias were included (SMD = –0.63, p < .001). The subanalyses showed significant effects for all types of exercise and for supervised interventions. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that physical exercise may serve as a feasible, additional intervention to fight depression in older adults. However, because of small sample sizes of the majority of individual trials and high statistical heterogeneity, results must be interpreted carefully. KW - depression KW - exercise KW - older adults KW - meta-analysis KW - review Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1024/1662-9647/a000133 SN - 1662-9647 SN - 1662-971X VL - 28 SP - 149 EP - 162 PB - Hogrefe CY - Cambridge, Mass. ; Göttingen [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Fydrich, Thomas A1 - Ströhle, Andreas A1 - Teran, Christina A1 - Kallies, Gunnar A1 - Schwefel, Melanie A1 - Heissel, Andreas T1 - Neurobiological mechanisms of exercise and psychotherapy in depression BT - the SPeED studyRationale, design, and methodological issues JF - Clinical Trials N2 - Background/Aims: Even though cognitive behavioral therapy has become a relatively effective treatment for major depressive disorder and cognitive behavioral therapy-related changes of dysfunctional neural activations were shown in recent studies, remission rates still remain at an insufficient level. Therefore, the implementation of effective augmentation strategies is needed. In recent meta-analyses, exercise therapy (especially endurance exercise) was reported to be an effective intervention in major depressive disorder. Despite these findings, underlying mechanisms of the antidepressant effect of exercise especially in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy have rarely been studied to date and an investigation of its neural underpinnings is lacking. A better understanding of the psychological and neural mechanisms of exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy would be important for developing optimal treatment strategies in depression. The SPeED study (Sport/Exercise Therapy and Psychotherapyevaluating treatment Effects in Depressive patients) is a randomized controlled trial to investigate underlying physiological, neurobiological, and psychological mechanisms of the augmentation of cognitive behavioral therapy with endurance exercise. It is investigated if a preceding endurance exercise program will enhance the effect of a subsequent cognitive behavioral therapy. Methods: This study will include 105 patients diagnosed with a mild or moderate depressive episode according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). The participants are randomized into one of three groups: a high-intensive or a low-intensive endurance exercise group or a waiting list control group. After the exercise program/waiting period, all patients receive an outpatient cognitive behavioral therapy treatment according to a standardized therapy manual. At four measurement points, major depressive disorder symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression), (neuro)biological measures (neural activations during working memory, monetary incentive delay task, and emotion regulation, as well as cortisol levels and brain-derived neurotrophic factor), neuropsychological test performance, and questionnaires (psychological needs, self-efficacy, and quality of life) are assessed. Results: In this article, we report the design of the SPeED study and refer to important methodological issues such as including both high- and low-intensity endurance exercise groups to allow the investigation of dose-response effects and physiological components of the therapy effects. Conclusion: The main aims of this research project are to study effects of endurance exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy on depressive symptoms and to investigate underlying physiological and neurobiological mechanisms of these effects. Results may provide important implications for the development of effective treatment strategies in major depressive disorder, specifically concerning the augmentation of cognitive behavioral therapy by endurance exercise. KW - Major depressive disorder KW - depression KW - psychotherapy KW - cognitive behavioral therapy KW - endurance exercise KW - training KW - functional magnetic resonance imaging KW - brain-derived neurotrophic factor KW - basic psychological needs KW - cortisol Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1740774517729161 SN - 1740-7745 SN - 1740-7753 VL - 15 IS - 1 SP - 53 EP - 64 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER -