Clinical trial NCT00749125: fMRI Studies of Emotional Brain Circuitry in People With Major Depression
Official title: fMRI Studies of Emotional Circuitry in Major Depression
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Depression
Keywords: Emotional Circuitry
fMRI
Lead sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
First posted: 2008-09-09
Enrollment: 99
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 50
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: This study will examine activation of a brain circuit that regulates emotion in depressed patients before and after treatment to see which areas of the brain are involved in chronic depression.

Detailed description: Major depressive disorder can be a recurrent problem for many people, interfering with their ability to function normally in day-to-day life. Although research shows that activation in certain brain areas corresponds to certain emotional functions, it is not well known which specific changes in brain functioning are related to or caused by depression. A proposed theory holds that depression is related to abnormal regulation of emotions and thoughts. This study will focus particularly on a brain circuit involved in emotional regulation, which includes the amygdala, the affective division of the anterior cingulate (ACad), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The amygdala detects critical emotional information, especially threats; the ACad judges relevance of motivational cues, detects conflict, and regulates emotional responses; and the DLPFC has a critical role in supporting a wide range of cognitive control functions. This study will compare brain scans from people with and without depression to attempt to clarify which changes in brain functioning are related to depression.

Participation in this study will last 8 weeks. All participants will undergo initial screening in a telephone interview, then a diagnostic interview and brief physical examination. After passing through screening, participants will schedule a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. The fMRI scan, lasting approximately 2 hours, will take pictures of both brain structure and brain functioning during different tasks. Also at this visit but outside the fMRI scanner, participants will be asked to complete an additional 2 hours of tasks on a computer. Depressed participants will then be given Lexapro, an approved drug for the treatment of depression. Participants taking Lexapro will go to scheduled doctor's visits after 2, 4, and 6 weeks of treatment to assess health, effectiveness of the drug, and side effects. On the eighth week, all participants will again undergo fMRI scanning and computer testing. At both the initial and follow-up fMRI study visits, images of brain function and anatomy will be recorded, heart rate will be monitored, and anxiety and arousal will be measured in the computer tests.

Eligibility criteria: Depressed:

Inclusion Criteria:

* Participant meets DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder
* Minimum score greater than 18 on Hamilton Depression Inventory
* Participant is right handed
* Participant speaks English

Exclusion Criteria:

* Significant limitations that would interfere with testing procedures, such as uncorrected visual or hearing loss
* MRI contraindications, such as foreign metallic implants or a pacemaker
* Known primary neurological disorders, including dementia, stroke, encephalopathy, Parkinson's disease, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, or seizure disorder
* Severe or unstable medical illness, such as a heart attack within the past 3 months, end stage cancer, or conditions or drugs that may cause depression (like systemic steroids or uncorrected hypothyroidism)
* Currently at risk for suicide
* Known allergy or hypersensitivity to escitalopram

Primary outcomes:
measure: Activations in Different Cortical Regions Caused by Emotionally Evocative Task
timeFrame: baseline and week 8
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Pennsylvania
name: Yvette I. Sheline, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sheline YI. Neuroimaging studies of mood disorder effects on the brain. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Aug 1;54(3):338-52. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00347-0.
citation: Fales CL, Barch DM, Rundle MM, Mintun MA, Mathews J, Snyder AZ, Sheline YI. Antidepressant treatment normalizes hypoactivity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during emotional interference processing in major depression. J Affect Disord. 2009 Jan;112(1-3):206-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2008.04.027. Epub 2008 Jun 17.
citation: Sheline YI, Price JL, Yan Z, Mintun MA. Resting-state functional MRI in depression unmasks increased connectivity between networks via the dorsal nexus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jun 15;107(24):11020-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1000446107. Epub 2010 Jun 1.
citation: Sheline YI, Barch DM, Donnelly JM, Ollinger JM, Snyder AZ, Mintun MA. Increased amygdala response to masked emotional faces in depressed subjects resolves with antidepressant treatment: an fMRI study. Biol Psychiatry. 2001 Nov 1;50(9):651-8. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01263-x.
citation: Fales CL, Barch DM, Rundle MM, Mintun MA, Snyder AZ, Cohen JD, Mathews J, Sheline YI. Altered emotional interference processing in affective and cognitive-control brain circuitry in major depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Feb 15;63(4):377-84. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.06.012. Epub 2007 Aug 24.
citation: Sheline YI, Barch DM, Price JL, Rundle MM, Vaishnavi SN, Snyder AZ, Mintun MA, Wang S, Coalson RS, Raichle ME. The default mode network and self-referential processes in depression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Feb 10;106(6):1942-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0812686106. Epub 2009 Jan 26.