Poster No:
674
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Laurel Morris1, James Murrough2
Institutions:
1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 2Mt Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, Boston, MA
First Author:
Laurel Morris
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY
Co-Author:
Introduction:
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a significant public health problem, but current treatments fail at relieving symptoms for many patients. Motivational deficits are a core feature of depression and are mediated by dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a tiny midbrain region that has been largely inaccessible with traditional 3-Tesla MRI.
Methods:
We have developed an ultra-high field 7-Tesla real-time biofeedback (RT-BF) protocol for VTA activity self-regulation, via a randomized, sham-controlled trial. To date, N=42 (MDD=20, HC=22) have been randomized to Active or Sham VTA biofeedback and have completed all measures. The 7T-MRI session includes a baseline, three rounds of training, and a transfer-test run. During training runs, participants use various abstract cognitive strategies to generate a heightened state of motivation (motivate trials). Participants in the Active group observe their own VTA activity, whereas participants in the Sham (control) group are yoked to a prior participant's activity. Separate repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine the effects of time (pre, post), intervention (Active, Sham), and group (depression, control) on self-reported transient depression (profile of mood states) and VTA activation (motivate>rest).
Results:
There was a significant main effect of group (F(1,38)=59.5, p<0.001), and a group*time interaction effect (F(1,38)=5.1, p=0.030) on transient depression; where MDD participants showed a larger reduction in depression over time compared to controls. There was also an interaction between group*time intervention (F(1,38)=4.9, p=0.032), where MDD participants in the Active arm showed a larger reduction in depressed scores compared to the Sham arm, while control subjects showed negligible changes. For VTA activity regulation during biofeedback training, there were trends towards main effects of time (F(1,30)=3.5, p=0.071) and a group*time interaction (F(1,30)=3.4, p=0.073), whereby VTA activation increased over time, and MDD seemed to show the highest VTA activation at the end of training. All up-to-date results will be presented.
Conclusions:
Early findings suggest the efficacy of 7T RT-BF in regulating VTA activity to improve mood in individuals with MDD.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI 2
Keywords:
Dopamine
MRI
Psychiatric Disorders
Other - Depression
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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