Use of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure functional connectivity in adolescents with depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious mental disorder associated with severe outcomes, including disability and suicide. Abnormalities in the neural development during adolescence may be centrally linked with the risk of developing MDD. A growing body of neuroimaging research, in adults and adolescents, supports a model for the pathophysiology of MDD rooted in the fronto-limbic neural circuitry. One promising technique well-suited for examination of this circuitry is resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting-state fMRI has now been used to investigate functional connectivity in normative populations and in neuropsychiatric disorders. We review research in adults with depression that has led us to consider using this methodology to examine the neural circuitry of depression in adolescents. We also review results from our own study examining MDD in adolescents, which demonstrated lower resting-state functional connectivity in the network arising from the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) compared with controls. Resting-state neuroimaging holds considerable promise for advancing our conceptualisation of the underlying neurobiology of depression, with the hope of aiding the development of more effective treatments.