Mapping the Depressed Brain Under Stress Using Multimodal Neuroimaging

• Published in: The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 181; no. 7; pp. 578 - 580
• Main Authors: Akiki, Teddy J., Abdallah, Chadi G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychiatric Association 01.07.2024
• Subjects: Antidepressants; Biomarkers; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Mapping - methods; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mental depression; Multimodal Imaging - methods; Neuroimaging; Neuroimaging - methods; Stress; Stress, Psychological - diagnostic imaging; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Multimodal Neuroimaging; Neural Circuits; Precision Psychiatry; Stress; Major Depressive Disorder
• ISSN: 0002-953X; 1535-7228; 1535-7228
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20240400

Ironside et al provide an excellent example of an experimental design to gain new insights using a combination of multimodal neuroimaging, network modeling, and stress induction in young adults with current major depressive disorder (MDD) or remitted MDD (rMDD) and healthy control subjects. By integrating multiple biological levels of analysis, the study sheds new light on how disruptions in cortisol signaling, GABA levels, and large-scale brain network dynamics may contribute to maladaptive stress responses in depression. Despite the general concerns about utility and reproducibility of cross-sectional small neuroimaging studies, the work by Ironside et al capitalizes on the strength of the multimodal and experimental design to advance our mechanistic understanding of how perturbations in GABA signaling, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function, and large-scale brain network dynamics contribute to the maladaptive stress response in depression.