Reward- and Threat-Related Neural Function Associated with Depression in Adolescents in a Middle-Income Country

• In Event: Novel approaches for identifying and understanding risk for adolescent depression in a global context

Abstract

Aims. The current study aims to examine brain activity and connectivity associated with risk and presence of depression among a richly phenotyped sample of adolescents from Brazil, addressing a gap in our knowledge of depression risk in adolescents from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
Methods. Adolescents recruited from schools in Porto Alegre were classified into low-risk, high-risk, and clinically depressed groups based on an empirically-derived composite prognostic model that included eleven socio-demographic risk factors. One hundred fifty adolescents underwent a functional MRI scan while completing a reward-related gambling and a threat-related face-matching task. We compared group differences in activity and connectivity of the VS and amygdala during the gambling and face-matching tasks, respectively, and group differences in whole-brain neural activity and connectivity.
Results. While there was no group difference in reward-related VS or threat-related amygdala activity, the depressed group showed elevated VS activity to punishment relative to high-risk adolescents. The whole-brain analysis found reduced reward-related activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) of patients and high-risk adolescents compared to low-risk adolescents. Compared to low-risk adolescents, high-risk and depressed adolescents showed reduced threat-related left amygdala connectivity with thalamus, superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and supplementary motor area.
Conclusions. We identified neural correlates associated with risk and presence of depression in a well-characterized sample of adolescents. These findings enhance knowledge of the neurobiological underpinnings of youth depression in LMIC. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine whether the observed neural patterns of high-risk adolescents predict the development of depression.

Authors

• Leehyun Yoon, University of California, Davis
  Presenting Author

• Fernanda Rohrsetzer, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lucas Battel, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mauricio Anes, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pedro Manfro, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  Non-Presenting Author

• Luis Rohde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna Viduani, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zuzanna Zajkowska, King's College London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Valeria Mondelli, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christian Kieling, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Johnna Swartz, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author