5-HTTLPR Biases Amygdala Activity in Response to Masked Facial Expressions in Major Depression

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dc.contributor.authorDannlowski, U.
dc.contributor.authorOhrmann, P.
dc.contributor.authorBauer, J.
dc.contributor.authorDeckert, J.
dc.contributor.authorHohoff, C.
dc.contributor.authorKugel, H.
dc.contributor.authorArolt, V.
dc.contributor.authorHeindel, W.
dc.contributor.authorKersting, A.
dc.contributor.authorBaune, B.
dc.contributor.authorSuslow, T.
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractThe amygdala is a key structure in a limbic circuit involved in the rapid and unconscious processing of facial emotions. Increased amygdala reactivity has been discussed in the context of major depression. Recent studies reported that amygdala activity during conscious emotion processing is modulated by a functional polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) in healthy subjects. In the present study, amygdala reactivity to displays of emotional faces was measured by means of fMRI at 3T in 35 patients with major depression and 32 healthy controls. Conscious awareness of the emotional stimuli was prevented via backward-masking to investigate automatic emotion processing. All subjects were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism. Risk allele carriers (S or LG) demonstrated increased amygdala reactivity to masked emotional faces, which in turn was significantly correlated with life-time psychiatric hospitalization as an index of chronicity. This might indicate that genetic variations of the serotonin transporter could increase the risk for depression chronification via altering limbic neural activity on a preattentive level of emotion processing.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityUdo Dannlowski, Patricia Ohrmann, Jochen Bauer, Jürgen Deckert, Christa Hohoff, Harald Kugel, Volker Arolt, Walter Heindel, Anette Kersting, Bernhard T Baune and Thomas Suslow
dc.identifier.citationNeuropsychopharmacology, 2008; 33(2):418-424
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/sj.npp.1301411
dc.identifier.issn0893-133X
dc.identifier.issn1740-634X
dc.identifier.orcidBaune, B. [0000-0001-6548-426X]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/65736
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier Science Inc
dc.rights© 2008 Nature Publishing Group
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301411
dc.subjectgenetics
dc.subjectfMRI
dc.subjectamygdala
dc.subjectSLC6A4
dc.subject5-HTTLPR
dc.subjectmajor depression
dc.title5-HTTLPR Biases Amygdala Activity in Response to Masked Facial Expressions in Major Depression
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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