Understanding the development of depression can inform etiology and prevention/intervention. Maternal depression and maladaptive patterns of temperament (e.g., low positive emotionality [PE] or high negative emotionality, especially sadness) are known to predict depression. Although it is unclear how these risks cause depression, altered functional connectivity (FC) during negative-emotion processing may play an important role. We investigated whether maternal depression and age-3 emotionality predicted FC during negative mood reactivity in never-depressed preadolescents and whether these relationships were augmented by early-life stress. Maternal depression predicted decreased medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)–amygdala and mPFC–insula FC but increased mPFC–posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) FC. PE predicted increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex–amygdala FC, whereas sadness predicted increased PCC-based FC in insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Sadness was more strongly associated with PCC–insula and PCC–ACC FC as early stress increased. Findings indicate that early depression risks may be mediated by FC underlying negative-emotion processing.

了解抑郁症的发展可以为病因和预防/干预提供信息。众所周知，母亲的抑郁和不适应的气质模式（例如，低积极情绪 [PE] 或高消极情绪，尤其是悲伤）可以预测抑郁症。虽然尚不清楚这些风险如何导致抑郁，但在负面情绪处理过程中改变的功能连接 (FC) 可能发挥重要作用。我们调查了在从未抑郁的青春期前儿童的负面情绪反应期间，母亲的抑郁和 3 岁的情绪是否会预测 FC，以及这些关系是否因早期生活压力而增强。产妇抑郁预测内侧前额叶皮层 (mPFC)-杏仁核和 mPFC-岛叶 FC 减少，但增加 mPFC-后扣带皮层 (PCC) FC。PE 预测背外侧前额叶皮质 - 杏仁核 FC 增加，而悲伤预测岛叶、眶额皮质和前扣带回皮质 (ACC) 中基于 PCC 的 FC 增加。随着早期压力的增加，悲伤与 PCC-insula 和 PCC-ACC FC 的相关性更强。研究结果表明，早期抑郁风险可能是由 FC 潜在的负面情绪处理介导的。