title: Cortical thickness and emotion processing in young adults with mild to moderate depression: a preliminary study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a multifaceted illness involving cognitive, emotional, and structural brain changes; illness onset typically occurs in adolescence or young adulthood. Cortical thickness modulations may underlie, or accompany, functional brain activity changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during emotional processing that tend to be observed in MDD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirteen unmedicated young adults with mild to moderate MDD, aged 18-24, completed a facial expression Go/No Go task and underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to assess cortical thickness. Cortical thickness and performance on the Go/No Go task was also assessed in age-matched healthy comparison subjects (HCs; N = 14).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with depression had thicker left pars opercularis cortices than HCs. They also exhibited impaired response inhibition to neutral faces when responding only to sad faces, and a faster response time overall.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though our sample size is limited, this pilot study nevertheless provides evidence for cortical thickening in left frontal brain regions in a non-severely depressed, young adult group compared to healthy controls. There was also evidence of disturbances in emotion processing in this group.
authors.affiliation: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Department of Psychiatry; Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), University of Calgary, 7th Floor, Teaching, Research & Wellness (TRW) Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. bafonsek@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Bernice A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Fonseka
authors.affiliation: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Department of Psychiatry; Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), University of Calgary, 7th Floor, Teaching, Research & Wellness (TRW) Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. natalia.jaworska@mcgill.ca.|Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. natalia.jaworska@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jaworska
authors.affiliation: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Department of Psychiatry; Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), University of Calgary, 7th Floor, Teaching, Research & Wellness (TRW) Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. akcourtright@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Allegra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Courtright
authors.affiliation: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Department of Psychiatry; Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), University of Calgary, 7th Floor, Teaching, Research & Wellness (TRW) Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. fmacmast@ucalgary.ca.|Child and Adolescent Imaging Research (CAIR) Program; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. fmacmast@ucalgary.ca.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. fmacmast@ucalgary.ca.|Strategic Clinical Network for Addictions and Mental Health, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Canada. fmacmast@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Frank P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: MacMaster
authors.affiliation: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Department of Psychiatry; Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), University of Calgary, 7th Floor, Teaching, Research & Wellness (TRW) Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. gmmacque@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Glenda M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: MacQueen
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult