Aminergic/cholinergic imbalance

Disturbances of the REM-promoting system the aminergic/cholinergic imbalance theory of depression... 

An explanation for sleep EEG alterations in depression is provided by the well established monaminergic-cholinergic imbalance model [49] which includes monoaminergic dysfunction in depression. The result is a disturbance of the mutual interactions between the diverse nuclei which control the transitions between REM and nonREM states (see Fig. 7.5, right part). This concept was developed in close relation to the monamionergic-cholinergic imbalance model of depression [50] which is based on observations that inhibition of the aminergic system by re-... 

An imbalance in the cholinergic/aminergic interactions may result from the deficient activity of a certain aminergic system or the hyperactivity of the cholinergic system or any quantitative combination of the two, which could very well be responsible for the pathophysiology of depression (M. Berger and Riemann 1993 Soldatos and Paparrigopoulos 1995). 

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