Discovery of biomarkers for evaluation of efficacy of psychopharmacotherapy is important task.

To study parameters characteristic for albumin binding sited in melancholic depression (MD) using fluorescent laser spectroscopy in range of 30–50 picoseconds.

22 patients with MD (dep) (F33.1 and 2) were investigated in dynamics of antidepressant therapy (venlafaxine: 75–150 mg/daily) for 30 days. Control group (con) consists of 54 volunteers. Decay of fluorescence amplitude (A) of fluorescent probe K-35 from serum albumin was measured using laser. Earlier, we revealed 3 binding sites in albumin with amplitudes A1, A2 and A3 with decay time of 1, 3 and 9 nanoseconds, respectively.

There was revealed significant decrease of amplitude A1dep, normalized on mean value of A1 for controls (A1dep/A1con), for patients with MD after treatment with venlafaxine. In this case, A1depvalues decreased and were equal to A1 values of controls (P < 0.01): A1dep/A1con before treatment–1.23 and after 30 days of therapy–0.97 relative units; for controls this value was–1.00 relative units. The same type of normalization was observed for amplitudes A2 and A3 of melancholic patients. There were revealed significant changes of A3/A1 ratio that points out on conformational changes of serum albumin molecule in dynamics of venlafaxine therapy.

We have registered unidirectional changes in albumin molecule in patients with MD. Investigated parameters can serve as potential biomarkers for evaluation of efficacy of psychopharmacotherapy.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The knowledge on brain mechanisms of psychopathology can be very useful for the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) show attention bias to the negative emotional stimuli. Automatic (unconscious) emotional processing in such patients may become a prospective biomarker for depression.

We aimed at studying the EEG-correlates of unconscious expectation of angry human faces in MDD patients compared to healthy controls.

128-channel EEG was recorded in MDD (23 females and 7 males) and in healthy volunteers (22 females and 8 males) while they categorized pictures as humans or animals. Half of the pictures were neutral and half were showing the faces of angry humans or animals. The pictures were preceded by cues (one for each category), which meaning was not explained to the participants. We performed the wavelet analysis on EEG recorded during the face expectation period: 1000–2000 ms from the cue onset.

We found the emotional modulation (EM) in EEG rhythms during the expectation of angry vs. neutral faces in both groups. Statistical comparison of the spectral power using 2 × 2 factorial design showed that the EM differences (P < 0.05) between the groups were in the left parietal locations in 9 Hz and in 16–18 Hz, in the right parietal locations in 27–28 Hz, and in the right frontal area in 30–31 Hz.

The unconscious expectation of angry vs. neutral faces resulted in EM differences between the MDD and healthy controls in the right frontal and bilateral parietal areas mostly in beta and gamma ranges.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.