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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Cortical thickness and emotion processing in young adults with mild to moderate depression: a preliminary study

Authors: Bernice A. Fonseka, Natalia Jaworska, Allegra Courtright, Frank P. MacMaster, Glenda M. MacQueen

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2016

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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.
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Metadata
Title
Cortical thickness and emotion processing in young adults with mild to moderate depression: a preliminary study
Authors
Bernice A. Fonseka
Natalia Jaworska
Allegra Courtright
Frank P. MacMaster
Glenda M. MacQueen
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-0750-8

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