Delineating the anatomical correlates of neurocognitive and psychomotor dysfunction in depression by fMRI

严重抑郁症的特征是智力和运动能力下降。我们小组以前的研究表明，额叶和基底脑小区域在调节这些能力中的作用。这项研究将通过提供新的信息来扩展我们以前的研究，详细说明严重抑郁症患者行为和结构异常的潜在生理学。我们小组和其他人的新兴研究表明，晚年生活中某些类型的严重抑郁症是由于未被发现的脑血管疾病。如果我们能够证明这种类型的严重抑郁症的关键特征（精神障碍，注意力，记忆和执行障碍以及全面残疾）与这种大脑变化有关，这可能会导致预防和治疗这些疾病的重大突破。一种新型的大脑成像技术称为“功能性磁共振成像”（fMRI），可以同时研究大脑小区域的结构和功能。由于该技术不使用辐射，并且可以在患者完成心理任务时进行，因此可以用于重复实验。因此，它允许描述在特定的心理任务中发生的大脑变化（激活区域）。因此，如果我们现在能够使用这种技术来扩展我们以前的临床和成像研究，我们将能够测试某些形式的晚年抑郁症是否是由于未被发现的大脑变化。

Severe depression is characterised by slowing of mental and motor abilities. Previous research by our group indicates the role of small frontal and basal brain regions in the regulation of these abilities. This research will extend our previous studies by providing new information detailing the underlying physiology of behavioural and structural abnormalities in patients with severe depression. Emerging research by our group and others suggest that some types of severe depression in later life are due to undetected forms of cerebrovascular disease. If we are able to demonstrate that the key features of severe depression of this type (psychomotor, attentional, memory and executive disturbance and global disability) are related to such brain changes this may lead to a major breakthrough in the prevention and treatment of these disorders. A new type of brain imaging technology called 'functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging' (fMRI) permits simultaneous investigation of the structure and function of small areas of the brain. As the technique does not use radiation and can be performed while the patient is completing mental tasks, it can be used in repeated experiments. Consequently, it permits description of brain changes (areas of activation) that occur during specific mental tasks. Therefore, if we are now able to use this technique to extend our previous clinical and imaging studies we will be able to test whether some forms of late-life depression are due to undetected brain changes.