title: Increased activity imbalance in fronto-subcortical circuits in adolescents with major depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A functional discrepancy exists in adolescents between frontal and subcortical regions due to differential regional maturational trajectories. It remains unknown how this functional discrepancy alters and whether the influence from the subcortical to the frontal system plays a primacy role in medication naïve adolescent with major depressive disorder (MDD).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen MDD and 18 healthy adolescents were enrolled. Depression and anxiety severity was assessed by the Short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (SMFQ) and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) respectively. The functional discrepancy was measured by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of resting-state functional MRI signal. Correlation analysis was carried out between ALFF values and SMFQ and SCARED scores. Resting brain activity levels measured by ALFF was higher in the frontal cortex than that in the subcortical system involving mainly (para) limbic-striatal regions in both HC and MDD adolescents. The difference of ALFF values between frontal and subcortical systems was increased in MDD adolescents as compared with the controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identified an increased imbalance of resting-state brain activity between the frontal cognitive control system and the (para) limbic-striatal emotional processing system in MDD adolescents. The findings may provide insights into the neural correlates of adolescent MDD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Linyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhengge
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mingzhou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Yijun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires