Abstract # 3091 Inflammation is Associated with Decreased Amygdala to Ventromedial Prefrontal Functional Connectivity in Association with Symptoms of Anxiety in Patients with Depression

Abstract

Inflammation, as evidenced by inflammatory cytokines and the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP), is reliably elevated in patients with depression and fear and anxiety-related disorders and is thought to contribute to symptom severity. Previous work shows that administration of inflammatory stimuli affects brain regions such as amygdala that are involved in fear, anxiety, and emotional processing. However, whether increased inflammation affects the amygdala or its functional connectivity in patients with depression and/or fear and anxiety-related disorders is only beginning to be explored. We conducted resting-state functional MRI in medically-stable, unmedicated outpatients with depression (n = 48) to investigate whether increased inflammation was associated with altered functional connectivity of the amygdala to whole brain in relation to symptoms of anxiety. Results indicated that increased inflammation (plasma CRP and cytokines) was associated with decreased functional connectivity between the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC; corrected p