Major depressive disorder is associated with abnormal autonomicregulation which could be noninvasively studied usingpupillometry. However, the studies in adolescent patients arerare. Therefore, we aimed to study the pupillary light reflex(PLR), which could provide novel important information aboutdynamic balance between sympathetic and parasympatheticnervous system in adolescent patients suffering from majordepression. We have examined 25 depressive adolescent girls(age 15.2±0.3 year) prior to pharmacotherapy and25 age/gender-matched healthy subjects. PLR parameters weremeasured separately for both eyes after 5 min of rest usingPupillometer PLR-2000 (NeurOptics, USA). The constrictionpercentual change for the left eye was significantly lower indepressive group compared to control group (-24.12±0.87 % vs.–28.04±0.96%, p?0.01). Furthermore, average constrictionvelocity and maximum constriction velocity for the left eye weresignificantly lower in depressive group compared to control group(p?0.05, p?0.01, respectively). In contrast, no significantbetween-groups differences were found for the right eye.Concluding, this study revealed altered PLR for left eye indicatinga deficient parasympathetic activity already in adolescent majordepression. Additionally, the differences between left and righteye could be related to functional lateralization of autonomiccontrol in the central nervous system.
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