Altered Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation in Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.

Yan Qiu,Chujun Wu,Xuelei Xu,Hui Tang,Jing Huang,Kun Jin,Ziwei Teng,Min Yang,Sujuan Li,Hui Xiang,Haishan Wu,Jindong Chen,Bolun Wang,Wenbin Guo

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.739210

Abstract

Background: Discriminating between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains challenging and cognitive deficits in MDD and BD are generally recognized. In this study, the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) approach was performed to explore neural activity and cognition in first-episode, drug-naïve BD and MDD patients, as well as the relationship between altered fALFF values and clinical or psychometric variables.Methods: A total of 21 BD patients, 25 MDD patients, and 41 healthy controls (HCs) completed clinical assessments and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans in this study. The rs-fMRI data were analyzed by fALFF method and Pearson correlation analyses were performed between altered fALFF values and clinical variables or cognition. Support vector machine (SVM) was adopted to identify the three groups from each other with abnormal fALFF values in the brain regions obtained by group comparisons.Results: (1) The fALFF values were significantly different in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and left precuneus among three groups. In comparison to HCs, BD showed increased fALFF values in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and decreased fALFF values in the right middle temporal gyrus, while MDD showed decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule IV/V. In comparison to MDD, BD showed decreased fALFF values in bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus and the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX. (2) In the BD group, a negative correlation was found between increased fALFF values in the right ITG and years of education, and a positive correlation was found between decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX and visuospatial abilities. (3) The fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX may have the ability to discriminate BD patients from MDD patients, with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy all over 0.70.Conclusions: Abnormal brain activities were observed in BD and MDD and were related with cognition in BD patients. The abnormality in the cerebellum can be potentially used to identify BD from MDD patients.

Highlights

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are both common and highly prevalent mood disorders with social disabilities and heavy financial burdens [1, 2]
Twenty-one BD patients, 25 MDD patients, and 41 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study
One BD patient, two MDD patients, and one healthy control were excluded in the final analysis for excessive head movements during rs-fMRI scans

Summary

Introduction

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are both common and highly prevalent mood disorders with social disabilities and heavy financial burdens [1, 2]. Epidemiological studies showed that half of diagnosed MDD patients could be unrecognized BD patients [3]. Discriminating between BD and MDD is challenging. This challenge leads to misdiagnoses and long-delayed diagnoses in BD [5]. Discriminating between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains challenging and cognitive deficits in MDD and BD are generally recognized. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) approach was performed to explore neural activity and cognition in first-episode, drug-naïve BD and MDD patients, as well as the relationship between altered fALFF values and clinical or psychometric variables

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion