Gaffrey MS, et al. - The focus of this study was to investigate the concurrent relationships between cortisol response following a stressor, functional brain activity to reward, and depression severity in 4-6 year old children. Findings revealed that altered neural processing of reward was already related to increased cortisol output and depression severity in preschoolers. They also showed an important role for amygdala function as a mediator of this association at a very early age. This research emphasized early childhood as an important developmental period for understanding the neurobiological correlates of early stress and heightened risk for depression.

Methods

• For this purpose, 52 medication naïve 4-6 year olds took part in an investigation utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to survey neural reactivity to reward, including gain, loss, and neutral outcomes.
• Parent-reported child depression severity and child cortisol response following stress were also measured in this examination.

Results

• According to the findings obtained, greater caudate and medial prefrontal cortex reactivity to gain outcomes and increased amygdala reactivity to salient (i.e., both gain and loss) results were watched.
• It was observed in the findings that higher total cortisol output following a stressor was related to increased depression severity and reduced amygdala reactivity to salient outcomes.
• The outcomes showed that amygdala reactivity was also inversely connected with depression severity and found to mediate the association between cortisol output and depression severity.