Adolescents with major depression demonstrate increased amygdala activation.
OBJECTIVE
Functional neuroimaging studies have led to a significantly deeper understanding of the underlying neural correlates and the development of several mature models of depression in adults. In contrast, our current understanding of the underlying neural substrates of adolescent depression is very limited. Although numerous studies have consistently demonstrated a hyperactive amygdala in depressed adults, the few published pediatric studies have reported opposite results in the amygdala. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to further our knowledge of the underlying neural substrates of adolescent depression by examining the bilateral amygdala specifically and the whole brain in depressed adolescents compared to healthy controls.


METHODS
Twelve unmedicated adolescents diagnosed with current major depressive disorder without a comorbid psychiatric disorder and 12 well-matched controls ages 13 to 17 years performed a facial-emotion matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T.


RESULTS
Region-of-interest analyses demonstrated: (1) significant bilateral amygdala activation in depressed and healthy adolescents, and (2) significantly greater left amygdala activation in depressed adolescents compared to controls. Whole-brain analysis revealed areas of significantly different brain activity in depressed adolescents compared to controls.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that (1) depressed adolescents without a comorbid psychiatric disorder exhibit an abnormally hyperactive amygdala compared to healthy controls; (2) models of adult depression might be extended to include depressed adolescents; and (3) neuropsychiatric interventions that have been developed in depressed adults should be further examined in adolescents.
Yang
Tony T
TT
University of California, San Diego, CA 92123, USA. tyang@ucsd.edu
Simmons
Alan N
AN
Matthews
Scott C
SC
Tapert
Susan F
SF
Frank
Guido K
GK
Max
Jeffrey E
JE
Bischoff-Grethe
Amanda
A
Lansing
Amy E
AE
Brown
Gregory
G
Strigo
Irina A
IA
Wu
Jing
J
Paulus
Martin P
MP
D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values