BackgroundLongitudinal neuroimaging studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) have most commonly assessed the effects of antidepressants from the serotonin reuptake inhibitor class and usually reporting a single measure. Multimodal neuroimaging assessments were acquired from MDD patients during an acute depressive episode with serial measures during a 12-week treatment with the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) duloxetine.MethodsParticipants were medication-free MDD patients (n = 32; mean age 40.2 years) in an acute depressive episode and healthy controls matched for age, gender, and IQ (n = 25; mean age 38.8 years). MDD patients received treatment with duloxetine 60 mg daily for 12 weeks with an optional dose increase to 120 mg daily after 8 weeks. All participants had serial imaging at weeks 0, 1, 8, and 12 on a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Neuroimaging tasks included emotional facial processing, negative attentional bias (emotional Stroop), resting state functional MRI and structural MRI.ResultsA significant group by time interaction was identified in the anterior default mode network in which MDD patients showed increased connectivity with treatment, while there were no significant changes in healthy participants. In the emotional Stroop task, increased posterior cingulate activation in MDD patients normalized following treatment. No significant group by time effects were observed for happy or sad facial processing, including in amygdala responsiveness, or in regional cerebral volumes. Reduced baseline resting state connectivity within the orbitofrontal component of the default mode network was predictive of clinical response. An early increase in hippocampal volume was predictive of clinical response.ConclusionsBaseline resting state functional connectivity was predictive of subsequent clinical response. Complementary effects of treatment were observed from the functional neuroimaging correlates of affective facial expressions, negative attentional bias, and resting state. No significant effects were observed in affective facial processing, while the interaction effect in negative attentional bias and individual group effects in resting state connectivity could be related to the SNRI class of antidepressant medication. The specificity of the observed effects to SNRI pharmacological treatments requires further investigation.Trial registrationRegistered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01051466).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0457-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Findings regarding brain circuitry abnormalities in suicide attempters (SAs) converge across bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), the most common disorders observed in suicides. These abnormalities appear to be present during adolescence/young adulthood when suicide rates increase steeply, and suicide is a leading cause of death in this age group. Identification of brain circuitry common to adolescent/young adult SAs with BD and MDD is important for generating widely effective early prevention strategies. We examined brain circuitry in SAs in adolescents/young adults across these two disorders. Methods: Eighty-three participants (ages 14-25 years), 46 with BD (21 SAs) and 37 with MDD (19 SAs), underwent structural and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance scanning. Whole-brain analyses compared grey matter (GM) volume and white matter (WM) fractional anisotropy (FA) between SAs and non-suicide attempters (NSAs) across and within BD and MDD (p<0.005).Results: Across and within BD and MDD, SAs showed differences compared to NSAs in ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC) GM volume and fronto-limbic (including uncinate fasciculus (UF)) WM FA. Exploratory analyses showed additional within-disorder differences for BD SAs in dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) and hippocampus GM volume and UF FA, and for MDD SAs

Background: Mood disorders are major risk factors for suicidal behavior. While cross-sectional studies implicate frontal systems, data to aid prediction of suicide-related behavior in mood disorders are limited. Longitudinal research on neuroanatomical mechanisms underlying suicide risk may assist in developing targeted interventions. Therefore, we conducted a preliminary study investigating baseline gray and white matter structure and longitudinal structural changes associated with future suicide attempts.Methods: High-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and suicide-related behavioral assessment data for 46 adolescents and young adults with mood disorders [baseline age mean =18 years; 61% female] were collected at baseline and at follow-up (interval mean =3 years). Differences in baseline and longitudinal changes in gray matter volume and white matter fractional anisotropy in frontal systems that distinguished the participants who made future attempts from those who did not were investigated.Results: Seventeen (37%) of participants attempted suicide within the follow-up period. Future attempters (those attempting suicide between their baseline and follow-up assessment), compared

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