Abstract
Background
Abnormal neural activities during emotional processing have been found in both adults and youths with major depressive disorder. However, findings were inconsistent in each group and cannot be compared to each other.
Methods
We first identified neuroimaging experiments that revealed abnormal neural activities during emotional processing in patients with major depressive disorder published from January 1997 to January 2019. Then we conducted voxel-wise meta-analyses on adult and youth patients separately and compared the two age groups using direct meta-comparison.
Results
Fifty-four studies comprising 1141 patients and 1242 healthy controls were identified. Both adult and youth patients showed abnormal neural activities in anterior cingulate cortex, insula, superior and middle temporal gyrus, and occipital cortex compared to healthy controls. However, hyperactivities in the superior and middle frontal gyrus, amygdala, and hippocampus were only observed in adult patients, while hyperactivity in the striatum was only found in youth patients compared to controls. In addition, compared with youths, adult patients exhibited significantly greater abnormal activities in insula, middle frontal gyrus, and hippocampus, and significantly lower abnormal activities in middle temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus, and striatum.
Conclusions
The common alterations confirmed the negative processing bias in major depressive disorder. Both adult and youth patients were suggested to have disturbed emotional perception, appraisal, and reactivity. However, adult patients might be more subject to the impaired appraisal and reactivity processes, while youth patients were more subject to the impaired perception process. These findings help us understand the progressive pathophysiology of major depressive disorder.
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References
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We thank the relevant studies for providing empirical data.
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This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81801685); National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2018A030310003).
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Xuqian Li and Junjing Wang contribute to the whole process of this manuscript, including project design, study selection and evaluation, data acquisition and analysis, and manuscript writing and revision. Xuqian Li and Junjing Wang have approved the final manuscript.
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Li, X., Wang, J. Abnormal neural activities in adults and youths with major depressive disorder during emotional processing: a meta-analysis. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 1134–1154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00299-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00299-2