The cortisol awakening response and anterior cingulate cortex function in maltreated depressed versus non-maltreated depressed youth

• Published in: Psychoneuroendocrinology 2017-12, Vol.86, p.87-95
• Main Authors: Quevedo, Karina, Doty, Jennifer, Roos, Leslie, Anker, Justin J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Anterior cingulate cortex; Child Abuse - psychology; Cortisol awakening response; Depression; Depression - metabolism; Depression - physiopathology; Depressive Disorder - physiopathology; Female; Gyrus Cinguli - metabolism; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Humans; Hydrocortisone - analysis; Hydrocortisone - metabolism; Life Change Events; Male; Maltreatment; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Saliva; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
• ISSN: 0306-4530; 1873-3360
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.001

•Maltreatment may increases the cortisol awakening response, a measure of daily stress function, above and beyond the effects of current depression in adolescents.•Negative self-representations enabled by anterior cingulate function increase levels of stress preparedness among maltreated depressed adolescents. Symptomatology of depression among children who have (vs. have not) experienced maltreatment is greater in severity, more resistant to conventional treatment, and associated with elevated risk for suicide. Recent evidence implicates perturbations in stress regulatory systems and heightened negative self-appraisals as factors that increase the severity of psychopathology experienced by depressed maltreated (vs. non-maltreated) youth. Likely explanatory mechanisms for these differences are disturbances in the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA) and persistent negative self-referential biases supported by prefrontal cortex function including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The cortisol awakening response (CAR) and dACC activity during a self-appraisal task were assessed in maltreated and non-maltreated depressed youth. Hierarchical linear models were employed to model the CAR. Maltreatment group, dACC activity during positive and negative self-appraisals as well as other key predictors, were included in the models. Post hoc analyses explored explanations for significant differences. Results indicated that maltreated depressed youth exhibited a higher CAR compared to non-maltreated youth. At low levels of dACC activity during processing of negative self-descriptors maltreated and non-maltreated depressed youth’s CAR did not differ. However, at elevated levels of dACC activity during processing of negative self-descriptors maltreated depressed youth exhibited significantly higher CAR compared to non-maltreated depressed youth.