Abstract
Background: The frontal lobe has been crucially involved in the neurobiology of major
depression, but inconsistencies among studies exist, in part due to a failure of considering
modulatory variables such as symptom severity, comorbidity with anxiety, and distinct
subtypes, as codeterminants for patterns of brain activation in depression.
Methods: Resting electroencephalogram was recorded in 38 unmedicated subjects with
major depressive disorder and 18 normal comparison subjects, and analyzed with a tomographic
source localization method that computes the cortical three-dimensional distribution
of current density for standard electroencephalogram frequency bands. Symptom severity
and anxiety were measured via self-report and melancholic features via clinical interview.
Results: Depressed subjects showed more excitatory (beta3, 21.5–30.0 Hz) activity
in the right superior and inferior frontal lobe (Brodmann’s area 9/10/11) than comparison
subjects. In melancholic subjects, this effect was particularly pronounced for severe
depression, and right frontal activity correlated positively with anxiety. Depressed
subjects showed posterior cingulate and precuneus hypoactivity.
Conclusions: While confirming prior results implicating right frontal and posterior
cingulate regions, this study highlights the importance of depression severity, anxiety,
and melancholic features in patterns of brain activity accompanying depression.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 13,
2001
Received in revised form:
December 12,
2001
Received:
August 1,
2001
Identification
Copyright
© 2002 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
