Effects of Acute Stress and Depression on Connectivity Between Prefrontal Cortex and the Basolateral Amygdala

Abstract

Stress is a significant risk factor for the development of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), yet the biological mechanisms underlying “maladaptive response” to stress remain poorly understood. Previously, we reported that MDD patients exhibited a “maladaptive glutamate response” to acute stress in the medial PFC using single-voxel MR spectroscopy. Here, we examined stress-induced changes in a cortico-limbic resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) network in MDD patients and healthy controls before and after an acute stressor or a no-stress control condition.