Neural function during emotion regulation and future depressive symptoms in youth at risk for affective disorders

Affective disorders (AD, including bipolar disorder, BD, and major depressive disorder) are severe recurrent illnesses. Identifying neural markers of processes underlying AD development in at-risk youth can provide objective, “early-warning” signs that may predate onset or worsening of symptoms. Using data (n = 34) from the Bipolar Offspring Study, we examined relationships between neural response in regions supporting executive function, and those supporting self-monitoring, during an emotional n-back task (focusing on the 2-back face distractor versus the 0-back no-face control conditions) and future depressive and hypo/manic symptoms across two groups of youth at familial risk for AD: Offspring of parents with BD (n = 15, age = 14.15) and offspring of parents with non-BD psychopathology (n = 19, age = 13.62). Participants were scanned and assessed twice, approximately 4 years apart. Across groups, less deactivation in the mid-cingulate cortex during emotional regulation (Rate Ratio = 3.07(95% CI:1.09–8.66), χ2(1) = 4.48, p = 0.03) at Time-1, and increases in functional connectivity from Time-1 to 2 (Rate Ratio = 1.45(95% CI:1.15–1.84), χ2(1) = 8.69, p = 0.003) between regions that showed deactivation during emotional regulation and the right caudate, predicted higher depression severity at Time-2. Both effects were robust to sensitivity analyses controlling for clinical characteristics. Decreases in deactivation between Times 1 and 2 in the right putamen tail were associated with increases in hypo/mania at Time-2, but this effect was not robust to sensitivity analyses. Our findings reflect neural mechanisms of risk for worsening affective symptoms, particularly depression, in youth across a range of familial risk for affective disorders. They may serve as potential objective, early-warning signs of AD in youth.