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Published Online: 1 February 2013

Relationships Between Changes in Sustained Fronto-Striatal Connectivity and Positive Affect in Major Depression Resulting From Antidepressant Treatment

Aaron S. Heller, M.S., Tom Johnstone, Ph.D., Sharee N. Light, M.S., Michael J. Peterson, M.D., Ph.D., Gregory G. Kolden, Ph.D., Ned H. Kalin, M.D., and Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 170, Number 2
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12010014
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Abstract

Objective

Deficits in positive affect and their neural bases have been associated with major depression. However, whether reductions in positive affect result solely from an overall reduction in nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity or the additional inability to sustain engagement of this network over time is unknown. The authors sought to determine whether treatment-induced changes in the ability to sustain nucleus accumbens activity and fronto-striatal connectivity during the regulation of positive affect are associated with gains in positive affect.

Method

Using fMRI, the authors assessed the ability to sustain activity in reward-related networks when attempting to increase positive emotion during performance of an emotion regulation paradigm in 21 depressed patients before and after 2 months of antidepressant treatment. Over the same interval, 14 healthy comparison subjects underwent scanning as well.

Results

After 2 months of treatment, self-reported positive affect increased. The patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained nucleus accumbens activity over the 2 months were those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect. In addition, the patients who demonstrated the largest increases in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity were also those who demonstrated the largest increases in positive affect when controlling for negative affect. None of these associations were observed in healthy comparison subjects.

Conclusions

Treatment-induced change in the sustained engagement of fronto-striatal circuitry tracks the experience of positive emotion in daily life. Studies examining reduced positive affect in a variety of psychiatric disorders might benefit from examining the temporal dynamics of brain activity when attempting to understand changes in daily positive affect.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 170 • Number 2 • February 2013
Pages: 197 - 206
PubMed: 23223803

History

Received: 4 January 2012
Revision received: 27 March 2012
Revision received: 30 May 2012
Accepted: 9 July 2012
Published online: 1 February 2013
Published in print: February 2013

Authors

Details

Aaron S. Heller, M.S.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Tom Johnstone, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Sharee N. Light, M.S.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Michael J. Peterson, M.D., Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Gregory G. Kolden, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Ned H. Kalin, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, the HealthEmotions Research Institute, and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison; and the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics and the Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Reading, U.K.
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Notes

Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, November 13–17, 2010.
Address correspondence to Dr. Davidson ([email protected]).

Funding Information

Dr. Kalin has received grant support or honoraria from or has served on scientific advisory boards for the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (Janssen Resident Psychiatric Mentor Grant), AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, CeNeRx BioPharma, Centocor Ortho Biotech, CME Outfitters, Corcept Therapeutics, Double Helix, Eli Lilly, Elsevier, Letters & Sciences, NIMH, Medivation, Neuronetics, Otsuka American Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Aventis, Stanley Medical Research Institute, and Wyeth; he has equity or equity options in Corcept Therapeutics and CeNeRx BioPharma, is owner of Promoter Neurosciences, LLC, and holds patents on promoter sequences. All other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.
Supplementary Material
Supported by NIH grants P50 MH069315, P50-MH084051, R01 MH043454 to Dr. Davidson; a Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals grant to Dr. Kalin; grants from the Fetzer Institute, the John Templeton Foundation, the John W. Kluge Foundation, and the Impact Foundation; gifts from Bryant Wangard, Ralph Robinson, Ann Down, and Keith and Arlene Bronstein; and in part by a core grant to the Waisman Center from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30 HD03352).

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