AFFECTIVE DISORDERS: BIOCHEMICAL, NEUROPHARMACOLOGICAL AND
PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL STUDIES
Neuropsychopharmacology/Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory, Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Joseph J. Schildkraut, M.D., John J. Mooney, M.D., Alan I. Green, M.D., Jacqueline A. Samson, Ph.D., Kathleen M. Pappalardo, B.S., M.T., Nancy L. McHale, B.S.
Starting in 1967, the Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (which some years later developed a clinical laboratory subcomponent, the Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory) has been engaged in a program of collaborative research to explore the biochemistry and pathophysiology of depressive disorders, as well as the mechanisms of action of antidepressant drugs. Findings from this research have shown that depressive disorders could be differentiated biochemically on the basis of catecholamine metabolism. This research was supported, in part, by a grant from NIMH (R01MH15413) that was continuously funded for 25 years until we decided not to reapply for continued funding. Working through the Harvard Medical School Office of Technology Licensing, Drs. Schildkraut and Mooney have recently filed a patent application for a rapidly acting antidepressant. Negotiations with major pharmaceutical companies are currently underway. In recent years a further aim of this research program has been to explore the relationship of depressive disorders to artistic creativity and spirituality.
Key Words: affective disorders, depressions, antidepressants, catecholamines, artistic creativity and spirituality.
Grant Support: The Karen Tucker Fund (JJS); other miscellaneous funds (JJS)
Program Sites: Neuropsychopharmacology/Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory, Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Program Director: J.J. Schildkraut, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 74 Fenwood Road, Boston, MA 02115
Contact Person: Patsy Kuropatkin - Telephone: 617-731-2921 - Fax: 617-731-3310
E-mail: joseph_schildkraut@http://hms.harvard.edu
Training Opportunities: This is a program site for the NIMH Clinical Research Training Program (HMS/MMHC) and has openings for other departmental trainees.
Representative Publications:
Schildkraut JJ. The catecholamine hypothesis of affective disorders: a review of supporting evidence. Am. J.
Psychiat. 1965;122:509-22.
Schildkraut JJ, Orsulak PJ, LaBrie RA, Schatzberg AF, Gudeman JE, Cole JO, Rohde WA. Toward a biochemical
classification of depressive disorders II: application of multivariate discriminant function analysis to data on urinary catecholamines and metabolites. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 1978;35:1436-1439.
Schatzberg AF, Samson JA, Bloomingdale KL, Orsulak PJ, Gerson B, Kizuka PP, Cole JO, Schildkraut JJ. Toward
a biochemical classification of depressive disorders X: urinary catecholamines, their metabolites, and
D-type scores in subgroups of depressive disorders. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 1989;46:260-268.
Schildkraut JJ, Otero A, Editors. Depression and the Spiritual in Modern Art: Homage to MirÛ. John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd., Chichester, England, 1996.
Mooney JJ, Samson JA, McHale NL, Colodzin R, Alpert J, Koutsos M, Schildkraut JJ. Signal transduction by
platelet adenylate cyclase: alterations in depressed patients may reflect impairment in the coordinated integration of cellular signals (Coincidence Detection). Biol. Psychiat. 1998;43:574-583.
Green AI, Zimmet SV, Strous RD, Schildkraut JJ. Clozapine for comorbid substance use disorder and
schizophrenia: do patients with schizophrenia have a reward-deficiency syndrome that can be ameliorated by clozapine? Harv. Rev. Psychiat. 1999;6:287-296.