NEURAL MARKERS OF FAMILIAL RISK FOR DEPRESSION

Abstract

Depression is associated with structural and functional abnormalities of the brain. It is not known whether these brain abnormalities are precursors or consequences of depression. Study of offspring of parents with depression offers the opportunity to study the risk in the absence of the disorder. I conducted a systematic review to examine whether brain features found in adults with depression exist in asymptomatic offspring who are at high familial risk for depression. My results identified neural markers of familial risk for depression as well as several gaps in knowledge. One of these gaps was that no prior study explored intracortical myelination in high-risk youth. I examined 112 adolescents and found no reduction of intracortical myelin in those at high familial risk for depression compared to those at low risk. These results suggest that a reduction of intracortical myelin is a consequence rather than a precursor of depression.