Project Summary

Daniel S. Pine, M.D. (Independent Investigator 2000) of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH/NIH), will use functional MRI (fMRI) to document abnormalities in the prefrontal brain regions of adolescents at high risk for major depression. A group of 20 high risk and 20 low-risk adolescents will be studied. At-risk status will be defined based on parental history of depression and prior history of childhood anxiety. For the fMRI scan, subjects will perform an emotional discrimination/attention task, previously shown to activate ventral prefrontal brain regions. Non-depressed adolescents at high risk for depression are expected to show abnormal activity profiles in ventral brain regions, relative to those at low risk for depression. 

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Depression (Unipolar)\Child/Adolescent

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