State-Related Alterations of Spontaneous Neural Activity in Current and Remitted Depression Revealed by Resting-State fMRI.

Chang Cheng,Yali Jiang,Ge Xiong,Yidian Gao,Qingsen Ming,Shuqiao Yao,Daifeng Dong,Xue Zhong,Xiaoqiang Sun

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00245

Abstract

Purpose: Although efforts have been made to identify neurobiological characteristic of major depressive disorder (MDD) in recent years, trait- and state-related biological characteristics of MDD still remains unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the aim of this study was to explore whether altered spontaneous neural activities in MDD are trait- or state- related.Materials and Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were analyzed for 72 current MDD (cMDD) patients (first-episode, medication-naïve), 49 remitted MDD (rMDD) patients, and 78 age- and sex- matched healthy control (HC) subjects. The values of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) were compared between groups.Results: Compared with the cMDD group, the rMDD group had increased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus and right cerebellum anterior lobe. Besides, compared with the HC group, the cMDD group had decreased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus. Further analysis explored that the mean ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus and right cerebellum anterior lobe were correlated positively with BDI scores in rMDD patients.Conclusion: Abnormal activity in the left middle occipital gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus and right cerebellum anterior lobe may be state-specific in current (first-episode, medication-naïve) and remitted (medication-naïve) depression patients. Furthermore, the state-related compensatory effect was found in these brain areas.

Highlights

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a high-recurrence psychiatric condition. which more than half of patients seen for first-episode MDD in China experience a recurrence of MDD symptoms within 5 years after the initial depression onset (Ji et al, 2001)
The major finding of the current study was that the remitted MDD (rMDD) group showed increased hyperactivities in the left middle occipital gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus and right cerebellum anterior lobe when compared with the current MDD (cMDD) group by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
These results suggested that brain activities in the left middle temporal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, and right cerebellum anterior lobe may serve as state-related biological characteristics of MDD

Summary

Introduction

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a high-recurrence psychiatric condition. which more than half of patients seen for first-episode MDD in China experience a recurrence of MDD symptoms within 5 years after the initial depression onset (Ji et al, 2001). Which more than half of patients seen for first-episode MDD in China experience a recurrence of MDD symptoms within 5 years after the initial depression onset (Ji et al, 2001). Primarily using task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) methods, have examined brain activation and structural changes in different clinical states, including current MDD (cMDD) and remitted MDD (rMDD). These researches have explored several abnormal alterations of brain region in patients, which could be trait-related or state-related markers of depression. Inconsistency across studies might be partially related to different task paradigms or analytical methods, including stress task or source recollection paradigm, cortical thickness or brain region volume analysis

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