Abstract
Recent studies have indicated the potential clinical use of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a tool in assisting the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD); however, it is still unclear whether NIRS signal changes during cognitive task are state- or trait-dependent, and whether NIRS could be a neural predictor of treatment response. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study to explore frontal haemodynamic changes following antidepressant treatment in medication-naïve MDD using 52-channel NIRS. This study included 25 medication-naïve individuals with MDD and 62 healthy controls (HC). We performed NIRS scans before and after antidepressant treatment and measured changes of [oxy-Hb] activation during a verbal fluency task (VFT) following treatment. Individuals with MDD showed significantly decreased [oxy-Hb] values during a VFT compared with HC in the bilateral frontal and temporal cortices at baseline. There were no [oxy-Hb] changes between pre- and post-antidepressant treatment time points in the MDD cohort despite significant improvement in depressive symptoms. There was a significant association between mean [oxy-Hb] values during a VFT at baseline and improvement in depressive symptoms following treatment in the bilateral inferior frontal and middle temporal gyri in MDD. These findings suggest that hypofrontality response to a VFT may represent a potential trait marker for depression rather than a state marker. Moreover, the correlation analysis indicates that the NIRS signals before the initiation of treatment may be a biological marker to predict patient’s clinical response to antidepressant treatment. The present study provides further evidence to support a potential application of NIRS for the diagnosis and treatment of depression.
Highlights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has a high lifetime prevalence of up to 20% [1] and constitutes the leading cause of disability worldwide [2]
Numerous studies using multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a noninvasive functional neuroimaging technique measuring the spatiotemporal characteristics of brain function, have consistently reported that oxygenated-hemoglobin [oxy-Hb] activation during a verbal fluency task (VFT) significantly decreased in patients with MDD compared with healthy controls (HC) in the fronto-temporal brain regions [11,12,13,14]
There were no significant differences in age, gender ratio, and VFT performance between HC and MDD groups at T1
Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has a high lifetime prevalence of up to 20% [1] and constitutes the leading cause of disability worldwide [2]. Neuroimaging techniques including positron emission tomography (PET), functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been widely used to describe the potential neurobiological basis of MDD. A recent multi-site study with large samples found that frontal haemodynamic patterns detected by the NIRS method accurately distinguished between patients with MDD (74.6%) and those with the two other disorders (85.5%; bipolar disorder or schizophrenia) that presented with depressive symptoms [16]. These studies suggest that neuroimaging-guided differential diagnosis of major psychiatric disorders using NIRS may be a promising biomarker for personalizing care in clinical settings
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
