Protocol Number: 03-M-0014

Title:

Neural Circuitry and Risk for Depression in Adolescents: A Study Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Number:

03-M-0014

Summary:

This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate brain changes in adolescents at risk for Major Depressive Disorder. It also calls for healthy volunteers to compare to children at risk for major depression.

Children whose parents have major depressive disorder (MDD) are at risk for developing MDD. Children who experience anxiety are particularly at risk. This study will examine whether the risk for MDD is associated with changes in brain regions involved in the regulation of emotion and with anxiety early in life.

Adolescents who have a parent with MDD and a history of anxiety symptoms will be compared to healthy volunteer adolescents who have no family history of MDD or childhood anxiety. Participants and their parents will have three outpatient study visits to NIH. Visit 1 will include a medical history, physical examination, questionnaires on thoughts and feelings, and tests to measure intelligence. During Visit 2, participants will perform memory and problem-solving tests and taught how to do tasks similar to those they will perform during Visit 3. The tasks involve looking at pictures, remembering things, and making decisions. During some of these tasks, the participant's eye movements will be tracked using a safe infrared light. At Visit 3, participants perform the tasks introduced on Visit 2 while in the MRI.

Sponsoring Institute:

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Recruitment Detail

Type: Active Accrual Of New Subjects

Gender: Male & Female

Referral Letter Required: No

Population Exclusion(s): None

Eligibility Criteria:

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Age 10-17.

Can give consent/assent. Parents will provide consent for all minors.

All subjects will have IQ greater than 80.

High risk: Offspring of adults with MDD who have a history of childhood anxiety symptoms.

Low risk: No history of parental MDD or childhood anxiety.

A prior history of childhood anxiety symptoms will be an inclusion criterion, but children exhibiting current clinically significant anxiety disorders beyond specific phobias will be excluded.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Any medical condition that increases risk for MRI (e.g. pacemaker, metallic foreign body in eye).

Pregnancy.

All subjects will be free of current impairing affective disorders, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, ADHD, as well as lifetime history of substance dependence, psychosis, pervasive developmental disorder, major affective disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, conduct disorder, anorexia.

Special Instructions: Currently Not Provided

Keywords:

Attention

Emotion

Amygdala

Prefrontal Cortex

Facial Expression

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

fMRI

Depression

Anxiety

Adolescence

Recruitment Keywords:

Depression

Anxiety

Adolescence

Children

Conditions:

Involutional Depression

Anxiety Disorders

Investigational Drug(s):

None

Investigational Device(s):

None

Contacts:

Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office
Building 61
10 Cloister Court
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754
Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222
TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
Fax: 301-480-9793

Electronic Mail:prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Citations:

Drevets WC, Ongur D, Price JL. Neuroimaging abnormalities in the subgenual prefrontal cortex: implications for the pathophysiology of familial mood disorders. Mol Psychiatry. 1998 May;3(3):220-6, 190-1. Review. PMID: 9672897

Drevets WC. Neuroimaging and neuropathological studies of depression: implications for the cognitive-emotional features of mood disorders. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001 Apr;11(2):240-9. Review. PMID: 11301246

Drevets WC. Neuroimaging studies of mood disorders.

Biol Psychiatry. 2000 Oct 15;48(8):813-29. PMID: 11063977

• Questions about participating in a study, please contact the Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office, CC.
• Technical questions regarding the Clinical Center web site, please contact the Department of Networks and Applications, CC.

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