Depression is one of the most burdensome psychiatric disorders, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The disease is characterized not only by severe emotional and affective impairments, but also by disturbed vegetative and cognitive functions. Although many candidate mechanisms have been proposed to cause the disease, the pathophysiology of cognitive impairments in depression remains unclear. In this article, we aim to assess the link between cognitive alterations in depression and possible developmental changes in neuronal circuit wiring during critical periods of susceptibility. We review the existing literature and propose a role of serotonin signaling during development in shaping the functional states of prefrontal neuronal circuits and prefronto-thalamic loops. We discuss how early life insults affecting the serotonergic system could be important in the alterations of these local and long-range circuits, thus favoring the emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as depression.

中文翻译：

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不仅仅是情绪障碍──抑郁症是一种神经发育、认知障碍吗？关注前额丘脑回路

抑郁症是最严重的精神疾病之一，影响着全世界数亿人。该疾病的特点不仅是严重的情绪和情感障碍，而且还包括植物和认知功能紊乱。尽管已经提出了许多导致该疾病的候选机制，但抑郁症认知障碍的病理生理学仍不清楚。在本文中，我们的目的是评估抑郁症认知改变与易感性关键时期神经元回路接线可能发生的发育变化之间的联系。我们回顾了现有文献，并提出了发育过程中血清素信号传导在塑造前额神经元回路和前额丘脑环的功能状态中的作用。我们讨论了影响血清素系统的早期生活损伤如何在这些局部和远程回路的改变中发挥重要作用，从而有利于神经发育障碍（例如抑郁症）的出现。