Abstract
BackgroundMajor 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.MethodsThirteen 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).ResultsParticipants 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.ConclusionsThough 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.
Highlights
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 & MDD Across all ages, potential cortical thickness modulations in MDD are relatively under-explored despite the possibility that these could serve as diagnostic markers, or as targets for therapeutic intervention
A second facial expression Go/No Go study of depressed adolescents/young adults failed to find any reaction time differences compared with nondepressed controls, though faster reaction times to emotive faces in the MDD cohort were associated with greater depression symptom severity [25]
Summary
Stimuli were presented on a PC laptop using ePrime software (Psychology Software Tools, Pittsburgh, PA), and participants either had to respond (via a keyboard press) to a target emotion and not respond to neutral faces, or vice versa, yielding eight conditions (Anger/ Fear/Happy/Sad Go & Neutral No Go; Neutral Go & Anger/Fear/Happy/Sad No Go). In this paper, these conditions are referred to by the emotion only (e.g., Anger Go or Anger No Go). Exploratory Spearman’s correlations (p < .001) were performed between cortical thickness of regions that tended to be (p < .05-.01) or were different (p < .01) between groups, and continuous clinical/demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education, HAMD17 score) and Go/No Go outcomes
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
