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Baseline working memory activation deficits in dimensional anxious depression as detected by magnetoencephalography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2015

Dawn F. Ionescu ,
Allison C. Nugent ,
David A. Luckenbaugh ,
Mark J. Niciu ,
Erica M. Richards ,
Carlos A. Zarate Jr.  and
Maura L. Furey
Dawn F. Ionescu*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Allison C. Nugent
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
David A. Luckenbaugh
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Mark J. Niciu
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Erica M. Richards
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Carlos A. Zarate Jr.
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Maura L. Furey
Affiliation:
Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
*
Dawn F. Ionescu, Massachusetts General Hospital, Depression Clinical and Research Program, 1 Bowdoin Square, Floor 6, MA 02114, Boston. Tel: +1 617 643 0491; Fax: +1 617 724 3028; E-mail: dionescu@mgh.harvard.edu
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Abstract

Objective

Anxiety often co-occurs with major depressive disorder (MDD). This preliminary study sought to ascertain the extent to which anxious depression drives group neurobiological differences between patients with MDD and healthy volunteers (HVs).

Methods

Magnetoencephalography beta-band frequency was used to compare differences in brain response during the N-back working memory task between 30 medication-free patients with treatment-resistant MDD (anxious depression=18; nonanxious depression=12) and 28 HVs.

Results

Compared to HVs, patients with anxious depression had significantly reduced desynchronisation (less activation) in the left precuneus, right cuneus, and left insula extending into the inferior and middle frontal cortex during the 2-back condition compared with the 1-back condition of the N-back working memory task – indicating less activation of these neural networks in patients with anxious depression during the condition with the highest level of task demands. No other significant group differences were found during the working memory conditions.

Conclusion

This preliminary study suggests that a subset of patients – those with anxious depression – may be driving observed group differences between patients with MDD and HVs. Further neurobiological studies and replication experiments are necessary to determine the extent to which this subgroup has preferentially influenced our understanding of the underlying neurobiology of depression.

Keywords

anxious depressionmagnetoencephalography (MEG)major depressive disorderN-back taskneurobiology
Type
Original Articles
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , June 2015 , pp. 143 - 152
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Copyright
© Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2015. This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. 

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