Childhood trauma is linked to abnormal connectivity within and between the brain's resting-state networks in adult patients with major depressive disorder, a study finds. Major depressive disorder is a common mental illness characterized by diverse symptoms, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still largely unknown. Yvette Sheline and colleagues used functional MRI to compare brain activity in 189 individuals with major depressive disorder and 39 healthy participants. The authors focused on temporal correlations in neural signals, or connectivity, within and between 10 well-established, large-scale, resting-state brain networks, each with its own functional activity. In patients with major depressive disorder, abnormal network connectivity was associated with current symptoms of depression as well as a history of childhood trauma, as assessed through 213 survey questions. Traumatic experiences were associated with altered connectivity in multiple resting-state networks, including those involved in directing attention and processing visual and auditory information. According to the authors, the results suggest that altered resting-state network connectivity may represent a neurobiological mechanism underlying the symptoms of major depressive disorder and serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker.
###
Article #19-00801: "Childhood trauma history is linked to abnormal brain connectivity in major depression," by Meichen Yu et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Yvette Sheline, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; tel: 215-573-0082; e-mail: <sheline@mail.med.upenn.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences