Relationships between changes in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity and positive affect with antidepressant treatment in major depression

Heller, A. S., Johnstone, T., Light, S., Peterson, M. J., Kolden, G. G., Kalin, N. K. and Davidson, R. J. (2013) Relationships between changes in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity and positive affect with antidepressant treatment in major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170 (2). pp. 197-206. ISSN 0002-953X doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12010014

Abstract/Summary

Objective: Deficits in positive affect and their neural bases have been associated with major depression. However, whether reductions in positive affect result solely from an overall reduction in nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity or the additional inability to sustain engagement of this network over time is unknown. The authors sought to determine whether treatment-induced changes in the ability to sustain nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity during the regulation of positive affect are associated with gains in positive affect. Method: Using fMRI, the authors assessed the ability to sustain activity in reward-related networks when attempting to increase positive emotion during per- formance of an emotion regulation para- digm in 21 depressed patients before and after 2 months of antidepressant treat- ment. Over the same interval, 14 healthy comparison subjects underwent scanning as well. Results: After 2 months of treatment, self-reported positive affect increased. The patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained nucleus accumbens activity over the 2 months were those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect. In addition, the patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity were also those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect when control- ling for negative affect. None of these associations were observed in healthy comparison subjects. Conclusions: Treatment-induced change in the sustained engagement of fronto- striatal circuitry tracks the experience of positive emotion in daily life. Studies examining reduced positive affect in a va- riety of psychiatric disorders might benefit from examining the temporal dynamics of brain activity when attempting to under- stand changes in daily positive affect.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/29601
Identification Number/DOI	10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12010014
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher	American Psychiatric Association
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