BackgroundWe previously found that children of parents with depression showed
impaired performance on a task of emotional categorisation.AimsTo test the hypothesis that children of parents with depression would
show abnormal neural responses in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain
region involved in the integration of emotional and cognitive
information.MethodEighteen young people (mean age 19.8 years) with no personal history of
depression but with a biological parent with a history of major
depression (FH+ participants) and 16 controls (mean age 19.9
years) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing
an emotional counting Stroop task.ResultsControls showed significant activation in the pregenual anterior
cingulate cortex to both positive and negative words during the emotional
Stroop task. This activation was absent in FH+
participants.ConclusionsOur findings show that people at increased familial risk of depression
demonstrate impaired modulation of the anterior cingulate cortex in
response to emotionally valenced stimuli.
Increased glutamate levels observed upon functional activation in the anterior cingulate cortex using the Stroop Task and functional spectroscopy