Antidepressant treatment normalizes hypoactivity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during emotional interference processing in major depression.
BACKGROUND
Major depression (MDD) is characterized by altered emotion processing and deficits in cognitive control. In cognitive interference tasks, patients with MDD have shown excessive amygdala activity and under-recruitment of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of antidepressant treatment on anomalous neural activity in cognitive-control and emotion-processing circuitry.


METHODS
Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted on depressed patients (n=23) (both before and after antidepressant treatment) compared with matched controls (n=18) while they performed a cognitive task involving attended and unattended fear-related stimuli.


RESULTS
After eight weeks of SSRI antidepressant treatment, patients with depression showed significantly increased DLPFC activity to unattended fear-related stimuli and no longer differed from controls in either DLPFC or amygdala activity.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that antidepressant treatment increases DLPFC under-activity during cognitive tasks that include emotional interference.


CONCLUSIONS
The sample was fairly homogeneous and this may limit generalizability.
Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States.
Christina L
CL
Fales
Deanna M
DM
Barch
Melissa M
MM
Rundle
Mark A
MA
Mintun
Jose
J
Mathews
Abraham Z
AZ
Snyder
Yvette I
YI
Sheline
D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D035061:Control Groups; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011999:Recruitment, Neurophysiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors