Subgenual Cingulate-Amygdala Functional Disconnection and Vulnerability to Melancholic Depression.

ABSTRACT: The syndromic heterogeneity of major depressive disorder (MDD) hinders understanding of the etiology of predisposing vulnerability traits and underscores the importance of identifying neurobiologically valid phenotypes. Distinctive fMRI biomarkers of vulnerability to MDD subtypes are currently lacking. This study investigated whether remitted melancholic MDD patients, who are at an elevated lifetime risk for depressive episodes, demonstrate distinctive patterns of resting-state connectivity with the subgenual cingulate cortex (SCC), known to be of core pathophysiological importance for severe and familial forms of MDD. We hypothesized that patterns of disrupted SCC connectivity would be a distinguishing feature of melancholia. A total of 63 medication-free remitted MDD (rMDD) patients (33

SUBMITTER: Workman CI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4820084 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature