BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF MOOD DISORDERS

Recent progress in brain science has been remarkable, especially with regard to advances in the area of neuroscience of affective disorders and schizophrenia. Particularly in the past decade, there have been ma ny important discoveries about three major areas in this field: neuroi mage, neuroendocrine studies of dysregulation of some neuroreceptors ( especially 5-HT) and signal transduction in the brain as well as the m echanisms of antidepressant drugs. The purpose of this paper is to rev iew those advances in neuroscience in mood disorders which are theoret ical relevant to the clinician who must assess and treat depressed pat ients.