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A functional anatomical study of unipolar depression
W C Drevets1, T O Videen, J L Price
1Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.
Summary
Major depression shows increased blood flow in the left prefrontal cortex, a state marker. The left amygdala may indicate a trait marker for familial pure depressive disease.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Unipolar major depression's functional neuroanatomy remains incompletely understood.
- Familial pure depressive disease (FPDD) offers a homogeneous group for study.
- Positron emission tomography (PET) is a key tool for measuring regional cerebral blood flow (BF).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional neuroanatomy of unipolar major depression.
- To identify brain regions with altered blood flow in depressed individuals.
- To differentiate between state and trait markers in FPDD.
Main Methods:
- Used PET to measure regional cerebral blood flow (BF) in subjects with FPDD and controls.
- Employed image subtraction techniques to identify candidate regions of interest.
- Compared blood flow in depressed, remitted, and control groups.
Main Results:
- Increased BF was observed in the left ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex in depressed subjects.
- The left amygdala showed significantly increased activity in the depressed group.
- Increased left amygdala activity was also noted in remitted subjects, suggesting a potential trait marker.
Conclusions:
- Left prefrontal cortex hyperactivity appears to be a state marker for FPDD.
- Left amygdala hyperactivity may represent a trait marker for FPDD, requiring further validation.
- A neural circuit including the prefrontal cortex and amygdala is implicated in depression's neuroanatomy.