Background

Recent efforts to classify subtypes of major depressive disorder marked by different psychophysiological indicators have identified blunted reward-related brain activation in gambling tasks as a characteristic linked specifically to depressed participants with impaired mood reactivity.

Methods

The current study compared individuals diagnosed with current depressive disorder (n = 26) with healthy controls (n = 24) regarding brain responses to gain and loss trials in an fMRI version of the “Doors” choice-feedback task. Study aims were to examine reward-related brain activation in relation to depression, depressive subtypes, and course of depression.

Results

Across the sample, participants showed a significant response to gain versus loss in left and right ventral striatum as well as medial and left lateral prefrontal cortex. Relative to controls, participants with current depression were characterized by blunted reactivity in left ventral striatum. Furthermore, activation in the left ventral striatum differentiated subgroups of depression with and without impaired mood reactivity. Finally, left striatal hypoactivation to reward predicted remission when controlling for current depressive symptomatology, albeit at a trend level.

Conclusions

Blunted reward-related activation in the left ventral striatum might be useful as a marker for depression subtype and may have the potential to predict future course of depression.

中文翻译：

---

奖励期间的腹侧纹状体激活在情绪抑郁与否之间的严重抑郁之间有所不同

背景

最近对以不同心理生理指标为特征的重性抑郁症亚型进行分类的努力，已将赌博任务中与报酬相关的大脑激活减弱，这是与情绪反应能力低落的抑郁参与者特别相关的特征。

方法

目前的研究 在功能门磁共振成像的“门”选择-反馈任务中，将被诊断为当前抑郁症的患者（n  = 26）与健康对照组（n = 24）的大脑对得失试验的脑反应进行了比较。研究目的是检查与抑郁，抑郁亚型和抑郁过程有关的与奖励相关的大脑激活。

结果

在整个样本中，参与者显示出对左右腹侧纹状体以及内侧和左侧外侧前额叶皮层的增益与损耗的显着响应。相对于对照组，当前情绪低落的参与者的特征是左腹纹状体钝性反应。此外，在左腹纹状体中的活化区分了抑郁症的亚组，有和没有受损的情绪反应性。最后，在控制目前的抑郁症状时，左纹状体功能减退以奖励预期的缓解，尽管处于趋势水平。

结论

左腹纹状体钝化的奖励相关激活可能用作抑郁症亚型的标志物，并可能预测抑郁症的未来病程。