Subgenual Cingulate–Amygdala Functional Disconnection and Vulnerability to Melancholic Depression

What is it about?

Episodes of depression may be categorized into different subtypes according to the presence of specific clusters of symptoms. Episodes of the melancholic subtype of depression include a loss of pleasure and motivation, and may also include symptoms like low mood, slowing of movements or speech, or excessive guilt. Existing neuroimaging research suggests the "subgenual cingulate cortex", a brain region of known importance to depression, may function abnormally in patients with current melancholic depression. It is not yet known, however, whether patients with a history of melancholic depression who aren't currently depressed demonstrate similar brain abnormalities. In this study, we measured connectivity of the subgenual cingulate to the resting brain in patients with a history of melancholic depression, with a history of non-melancholic depression, and in healthy volunteers. Resting-state functional connectivity between the subgenual cingulate cortex and left amygdala was lower in patients with a history of melancholic depression compared to the other participants in the study. Since patients with a history of depression are at risk for experiencing more episodes in the future, this suggests the pattern of connectivity we reported may be a risk factor for experiencing episodes of melancholic depression.

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Why is it important?

These results provide the first resting-state neural signature distinctive of melancholic remitted depression and may reflect a subtype-specific primary vulnerability factor given a lack of association with the number of previous episodes.