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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2012

Open Access 01-12-2012 | Research article

Neural mechanisms of subclinical depressive symptoms in women: a pilot functional brain imaging study

Authors: Jennifer N Felder, Moria J Smoski, Rachel V Kozink, Brett Froeliger, Joseph McClernon, Joshua Bizzell, Christopher Petty, Gabriel S Dichter

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2012

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Abstract

Background

Studies of individuals who do not meet criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) but with subclinical levels of depressive symptoms may aid in the identification of neurofunctional abnormalities that possibly precede and predict the development of MDD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate relations between subclinical levels of depressive symptoms and neural activation patterns during tasks previously shown to differentiate individuals with and without MDD.

Methods

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess neural activations during active emotion regulation, a resting state scan, and reward processing. Participants were twelve females with a range of depressive symptoms who did not meet criteria for MDD.

Results

Increased depressive symptom severity predicted (1) decreased left midfrontal gyrus activation during reappraisal of sad stimuli; (2) increased right midfrontal gyrus activation during distraction from sad stimuli; (3) increased functional connectivity between a precuneus seed region and left orbitofrontal cortex during a resting state scan; and (4) increased paracingulate activation during non-win outcomes during a reward-processing task.

Conclusions

These pilot data shed light on relations between subclinical levels of depressive symptoms in the absence of a formal MDD diagnosis and neural activation patterns. Future studies will be needed to test the utility of these activation patterns for predicting MDD onset in at-risk samples.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Neural mechanisms of subclinical depressive symptoms in women: a pilot functional brain imaging study
Authors
Jennifer N Felder
Moria J Smoski
Rachel V Kozink
Brett Froeliger
Joseph McClernon
Joshua Bizzell
Christopher Petty
Gabriel S Dichter
Publication date
01-12-2012
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-12-152

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