Faculty Collaboration Database

Functional connectivity of the amygdala in early-childhood-onset depression. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2011 Oct;50(10):1027-41.e3

Date

10/04/2011

Pubmed ID

21961777

Pubmed Central ID

PMC3185293

DOI

10.1016/j.jaac.2011.07.019

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-80053364690 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   102 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Adult major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with reduced cortico-limbic functional connectivity thought to indicate decreased top-down control of emotion. However, it is unclear whether such connectivity alterations are also present in early-childhood-onset MDD.

METHOD: A total of 51 children 7 through 11 years of age who had been prospectively studied since preschool age, completed resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and were assigned to one of four groups: 1) C-MDD (N = 13), those children with a personal history of early-childhood-onset MDD; 2) M-MDD (N = 11), those with a maternal history of affective disorders; 3) CM-MDD (N = 13), those with both maternal and early-childhood-onset MDD; or 4) CON (N = 14), those without either a personal or maternal history of MDD. We used seed-based resting state functional connectivity (rsfcMRI) analysis in an independent sample of adults to identify networks showing both positive (e.g., limbic regions) and negative (e.g., dorsal frontal/parietal regions) connectivity with the amygdala. These regions were then used in region-of-interest-based analyses of our child sample.

RESULTS: We found a significant interaction between maternal affective disorder history and the child's MDD history for both positive and negative rsfcMRI networks. Specifically, when compared with CON, we found reduced connectivity between the amygdala and the "negative network" in children with C-MDD, M-MDD, and CM-MDD. Children with either C-MDD or a maternal history of MDD (but not CM-MDD) displayed reduced connectivity between the amygdala and the "positive network."

CONCLUSIONS: Our finding of an attenuated relationship between the amygdala, a region affected in MDD and involved in emotion processing, and cognitive control regions is consistent with a hypothesis of altered regulation of emotional processing in C-MDD, suggesting developmental continuity of this alteration into early childhood.

Author List

Luking KR, Repovs G, Belden AC, Gaffrey MS, Botteron KN, Luby JL, Barch DM

Author

Michael S. Gaffrey PhD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Age of Onset
Amygdala
Cerebral Cortex
Child
Depressive Disorder, Major
Disease Susceptibility
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Limbic System
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Mothers
Nerve Net
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Risk
Severity of Illness Index