Deficits in hippocampal and anterior cingulate functioning during verbal declarative memory encoding in midlife major depression.
OBJECTIVE
Prior studies showed that subjects with major depression have deficits in hippocampal-based verbal declarative memory (e.g., recall of a paragraph) and in hippocampal and prefrontal cortical functioning and structure. The purpose of the present study was to assess hippocampal and prefrontal functioning during performance of a verbal declarative memory task in subjects with midlife major depression.


METHODS
Subjects with midlife major depression (N=18) and healthy subjects (N=9) underwent positron emission tomography imaging during a control task and verbal encoding of a paragraph.


RESULTS
During the verbal memory encoding task the comparison subjects, but not the subjects with depression, activated the right hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate), as well as the cuneus and cerebellum.


CONCLUSIONS
These results are consistent with a failure of hippocampal and anterior cingulate activation in depression, and they support the hypothesis of deficits in hippocampal and anterior cingulate functioning in depression.
Bremner
J Douglas
JD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and Atlanta VA Medical Center, Decatur, GA, USA. jdbremn@emory.edu
Vythilingam
Meena
M
Vermetten
Eric
E
Vaccarino
Viola
V
Charney
Dennis S
DS
D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014705:Verbal Behavior