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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-12-18
pubmed:abstractText
The amygdala plays a pivotal role in a cortico-limbic circuitry implicated in emotion processing and regulation. In the present study, functional connectivity of the amygdala with prefrontal areas involved in emotion regulation was investigated during a facial expression processing task in a sample of 34 depressed inpatients and 31 healthy controls. All patients were genotyped for a common functional variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA u-VNTR) which has been previously associated with major depression as well as reduced cortico-limbic connectivity in healthy subjects. In our control group, we observed tight coupling of the amygdala and dorsal prefrontal areas comprising the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsal parts of the anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity was significantly reduced in depressed patients and carriers of the higher active MAOA risk alleles (MAOA-H). Hence, depressed MAOA-H carriers showed the weakest amygdala-prefrontal coupling of the investigated subgroups. Furthermore, reduced coupling of this circuitry predicted more than 40% variance of clinical variables characterizing a longer and more severe course of disease. We conclude that genetic variation in the MAOA gene may affect the course of major depression by disrupting cortico-limbic connectivity.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
1461-1457
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
12
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
11-22
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Adult, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Alleles, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Amygdala, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Antidepressive Agents, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Chronic Disease, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Cluster Analysis, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Depressive Disorder, Major, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Emotions, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Female, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Genotype, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Magnetic Resonance Imaging, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Male, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Monoamine Oxidase, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Neural Pathways, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Neuropsychological Tests, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Prefrontal Cortex, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, pubmed-meshheading:18544183-Treatment Outcome
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Reduced amygdala-prefrontal coupling in major depression: association with MAOA genotype and illness severity.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Germany.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't