PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michael Koenigs
AU  - Edward D. Huey
AU  - Matthew Calamia
AU  - Vanessa Raymont
AU  - Daniel Tranel
AU  - Jordan Grafman
TI  - Distinct Regions of Prefrontal Cortex Mediate Resistance and Vulnerability to Depression
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2324-08.2008
DP  - 2008 Nov 19
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 12341--12348
VI  - 28
IP  - 47
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/47/12341.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/47/12341.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2008 Nov 19; 28
AB  - The neuroanatomical correlates of depression remain unclear. Functional imaging data have associated depression with abnormal patterns of activity in prefrontal cortex (PFC), including the ventromedial (vmPFC) and dorsolateral (dlPFC) sectors. If vmPFC and dlPFC are critical neural substrates for the pathogenesis of depression, then damage to either area should affect the expression of depressive symptoms. Using patients with brain lesions we show that, relative to nonfrontal lesions, bilateral vmPFC lesions are associated with markedly low levels of depression, whereas bilateral dorsal PFC lesions (involving dorsomedial and dorsolateral areas in both hemispheres) are associated with substantially higher levels of depression. These findings demonstrate that vmPFC and dorsal PFC are critically and causally involved in depression, although with very different roles: vmPFC damage confers resistance to depression, whereas dorsal PFC damage confers vulnerability.