Cerebellar responses during anticipation of noxious stimuli in subjects recovered from depression
Smith KA., Ploghaus A., Cowen PJ., McCleery JM., Goodwin GM., Smith S., Tracey I., Matthews PM.
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Subjects recovered from depression have a substantial risk for recurrence of depression, suggesting persistent abnormalities in brain activity.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aims</jats:title><jats:p>To test whether women recovered from depression show abnormal brain activity in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a conditioning paradigm with a noxious pain stimulus.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>Ten unmedicated women who had recovered from major depression and eight healthy control women each received either noxious hot or non-noxious warm stimuli, the onset of which was signalled by a specific coloured light during 3-tesla echo planar imaging-based fMRI.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Similar patterns of brain activation were found during painful stimulation for both patients and healthy controls. However, relative to healthy controls, subjects recovered from depression showed a reduced response in the cerebellum during anticipation of the noxious stimulus compared with anticipation of the non-noxious stimulus.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Our data suggest that abnormal cerebellar function could be a marker of vulnerability to recurrent depression. This could provide a new target for therapeutic interventions.</jats:p></jats:sec>