Cited by 866Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesTreatment of Major DepressionFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

Functional Neuroimaging of Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis and New Integration of Baseline Activation and Neural Response Data

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Hamilton, J. Paul, Etkin, Amit, Furman, Daniella J., Lemus, Maria G., Johnson, Rebecca F., Gotlib, Ian H.·2012·American Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Functional neuroimaging investigations of major depressive disorder can advance both the neural theory and treatment of this debilitating illness. Inconsistency of neuroimaging findings and the use of region-of-interest approaches have hindered the development of a comprehensive, empirically informed neural model of major depression. In this context, the authors sought to identify reliable anomalies in baseline neural activity and neural response to affective stimuli in major depressive disorder. METHOD: The authors applied voxel-wise, whole-brain meta-analysis to neuroimaging investigations comparing depressed to healthy comparison groups with respect to baseline neural activity or neural response to positively and/or negatively valenced stimuli. RESULTS: Relative to healthy subjects, those with major depression had reliably higher baseline activity, bilaterally, in the pulvinar nucleus. The analysis of neural response studies using negative stimuli showed greater response in the amygdala, insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and lower response in the dorsal striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in individuals with major depressive disorder than in healthy subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analytic results support an elegant and neuroanatomically viable model of the salience of negative information in major depressive disorder. In this proposed model, high baseline pulvinar activity in depression first potentiates responding of the brain's salience network to negative information; next, and owing potentially to low striatal dopamine levels in depression, this viscerally charged information fails to propagate up the cortical-striatal-pallidalthalamic circuit to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for contextual processing and reappraisal.

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Crossref · 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.11071105

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  • A meta-analysis of MRI data by the ENIGMA working group detected significantly lower volumes in the hippocampus (but no other subcortical structures) as well as cortical thinning in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate, insula and temporal lobes in MDD patients.

    “A meta-analysis of MRI data from more than a dozen independent research samples by the ENIGMA working group detected significantly lower volumes in the hippocampus (but no other subcortical structures) 95 as well as cortical thinning in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate, insula and temporal lobes in MDD patients 96 .”

    From Major depressive disorder (2016) · cites this paper as [95]

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  • MDD patients show lower activity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in resting state analyses.

    “studies seemed consistent in showing a lower activity of dorsolateral PFC in resting state analyses of MDD patients”

    From Neurotrophic factors and neuroplasticity pathways in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression (2018) · cites this paper as Hamilton et al. 2012

    The Results (fMRI Meta-Analysis; page not provided) report lower dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in MDD patients in response to negative stimuli. The resting-state analysis (Results, rCBF Meta-Analysis; page not provided) instead reports reliably greater activity in the pulvinar nuclei; it does not establish lower resting-state dorsolateral prefrontal activity. (LLM, conf=0.89)

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  • In response to negative stimuli, acute MDD episodes are often characterized by reduced engagement of cognitive control in brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but elevated engagement of salience detection in medial prefrontal cortex.

    “In response to negative stimuli, acute MDD episodes are often characterized by reduced engagement of cognitive control in brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), but elevated engagement of salience detection in medial PFC (Hamilton et al., 2012, Hamilton et al., 2013).”
  • Prevailing theories of MDD mechanisms highlight an imbalance between an overactive salience network (putamen, amygdala, anterior cingulate) and decreased responsiveness in contextual processing regions (dorsal striatum and DLPFC).

    “These data have informed prevailing theories of the mechanisms of MDD, which highlight an imbalance between an overactive salience network (involving in the putamen, amygdala, and anterior cingulate) and decreased responsiveness in regions involved in contextual processing (dorsal striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — DLPFC) (Hamilton et al., 2012).”

    From Widespread reductions in gray matter volume in depression (2013) · cites this paper as Hamilton et al., 2012

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [84]Hamilton JP, Chen G, Thomason ME, Schwartz ME, Gotlib IH: Investigating neural primacy in major depressive disorder: multivariate Granger causality analysis of resting-state fMRI time-series data. Mol Psychiatry 2011; 16: 763– 772 20479758 PMC2925061

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Authors
Hamilton, J. P., Etkin, A., Furman, D. J., Lemus, M. G., Johnson, R. F., & Gotlib, I. H.
Affiliations
VA Palo Alto Health Care System (US)
Venue
American Journal of Psychiatry
Published
2012-07
Volume
169
Issue
7
Pages
693-703
ISSN
  • 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-7228
OpenAlex
W2136148200
Cited by
866
References
86
Citations by year
2026: 52 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 100 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 54 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 74 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 7
Type
conference abstract
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH079651, MH079651, MH59259, R01MH059259)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
major depressive disorder, pulvinar, amygdala, insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsal striatum, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, salience network, striatal dopamine
MeSH terms
Brain, Major Depressive Disorder, Emotions, Humans, Models, Neurological, Neural Pathways, Functional Neuroimaging

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