Tracy Barbour1, Avram J Holmes2, Amy H Farabaugh3, Stephanie N DeCross4, Garth Coombs5, Emily A Boeke6, Rick P F Wolthusen7, Maren Nyer3, Paola Pedrelli3, Maurizio Fava3, Daphne J Holt8. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: tbarbour@partners.org. 2. Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. 3. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. 4. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. 5. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 6. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. 8. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Amygdala overactivity has been frequently observed in patients with depression, as well as in nondepressed relatives of patients with depression. A remaining unanswered question is whether elevated amygdala activity in those with familial risk for depression is related to the presence of subthreshold symptoms or to a trait-level vulnerability for illness. METHODS: To examine this question, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected in nondepressed young adults with (family history [FH+]) (n = 27) or without (FH-) (n = 45) a first-degree relative with a history of depression while they viewed images of "looming" or withdrawing stimuli (faces and cars) that varied in salience by virtue of their apparent proximity to the subject. Activation of the amygdala and 2 other regions known to exhibit responses to looming stimuli, the dorsal intraparietal sulcus (DIPS) and ventral premotor cortex (PMv), were measured, as well as levels of resilience, anxiety, and psychotic and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Compared with the FH- group, the FH+ group exhibited significantly greater responses of the amygdala, but not the dorsal intraparietal sulcus or ventral premotor cortex, to looming face stimuli. Moreover, amygdala responses in the FH+ group were negatively correlated with levels of resilience and unrelated to levels of subthreshold symptoms of psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that elevated amygdala activity in nondepressed young adults with a familial history of depression is more closely linked to poor resilience than to current symptom state.
BACKGROUND: Amygdala overactivity has been frequently observed in patients with depression, as well as in nondepressed relatives of patients with depression. A remaining unanswered question is whether elevated amygdala activity in those with familial risk for depression is related to the presence of subthreshold symptoms or to a trait-level vulnerability for illness. METHODS: To examine this question, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected in nondepressed young adults with (family history [FH+]) (n = 27) or without (FH-) (n = 45) a first-degree relative with a history of depression while they viewed images of "looming" or withdrawing stimuli (faces and cars) that varied in salience by virtue of their apparent proximity to the subject. Activation of the amygdala and 2 other regions known to exhibit responses to looming stimuli, the dorsal intraparietal sulcus (DIPS) and ventral premotor cortex (PMv), were measured, as well as levels of resilience, anxiety, and psychotic and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Compared with the FH- group, the FH+ group exhibited significantly greater responses of the amygdala, but not the dorsal intraparietal sulcus or ventral premotor cortex, to looming face stimuli. Moreover, amygdala responses in the FH+ group were negatively correlated with levels of resilience and unrelated to levels of subthreshold symptoms of psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that elevated amygdala activity in nondepressed young adults with a familial history of depression is more closely linked to poor resilience than to current symptom state.
Authors: K W Miskowiak; L Glerup; C Vestbo; C J Harmer; A Reinecke; J Macoveanu; H R Siebner; L V Kessing; M Vinberg Journal: Psychol Med Date: 2014-11-10 Impact factor: 7.723
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