Effects of Tryptophan Depletion in Drug-Free Depressed Patients Who Responded to Total Sleep Deprivation

Abstract

Tryptophan depletion did not reverse the antidepressant effects of SD, but it prevented the relapse beyond a night of recovery sleep. These findings suggest that SD does not act via a single monoamine-related mechanism, but they allow the assumption that TD may induce neurochemical alterations that transiently improve depression.