title: Altered functional connectivity between medial prefrontal cortex and the inferior brainstem in major depression during appraisal of subjective emotional responses: A preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested the hypothesis that reduced rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC)-subcortical functional connectivity in depressed subjects might account for depression-related autonomic dysregulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten healthy and ten depressed subjects categorized their immediate subjective emotional responses to picture sets while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging and electrocardiography. Using an rACC cluster commonly activated in both groups by emotion categorization as a seed region, we then performed voxel-wise functional connectivity analyses to examine rACC connectivity across the brain in depressed and control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  rACC had significantly stronger connectivity with a region of the inferior pons in controls than in depressed subjects. Within-subjects differences in rACC-pons connectivity also significantly correlated with measures of both heart rate variability and depression severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support the hypothesis that autonomic dysregulation in depression may be associated with a functional disconnection between rACC and autonomic brainstem nuclei.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States. Electronic address: rssmith@email.arizona.edu.
authors: Ryan
authors: R
authors: Smith
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.
authors: John J B
authors: JJ
authors: Allen
authors: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors: Julian F
authors: JF
authors: Thayer
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.
authors: Richard D
authors: RD
authors: Lane
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Brainstem; Depression; Functional connectivity; Heart rate variability; Medial prefrontal cortex; fMRI