Division of Neuroimaging, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ 85259, USA.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2011 Sep;5(3):229-39. doi: 10.1007/s11682-011-9127-2.
Variations in frontal lobe (FL) functional anatomy, especially the subgenual cingulate gyrus (SGC) suggest that mapping on an individual rather than group level may give greater insight regarding dysregulation of the neural circuitry involved in depression, as well as potentially provide more specific or individualized treatment plans for depressed patients. We designed a functional MRI task capable of imaging FL activity in individuals, including the SGC region, using a transient sadness paradigm. We sought to develop a method that may better detect individual differences of FL subregions related to sadness, since this region has been implicated to show dysregulation in depression. The task was based on a block design that also accommodates individual differences in responsivity to a sadness induction paradigm. Individual differences from nine non-depressed healthy volunteers were analyzed. We also performed functional connectivity analyses to further characterize our findings to the networks associated with the SGC in each individual. The study was designed to account for individual variation rather than using a true experimental design; therefore, no control group was necessary. As expected, due to inter-individual variability, the specific site of SGC activation during sadness varied across individuals. Activation was also observed in other brain regions consistent with other studies of induced sadness and depression. Patterns of functional connectivity to the SGC also highlighted neural circuits known to subserve sadness and depression. This task promises to more precisely localize a given individual's functional organization of the brain circuitry underlying sadness, and potentially depression, in an efficient, standardized way. This task could potentially aid in providing individualized targets in the treatment of depression.
额叶（FL）功能解剖结构的变化，特别是扣带回下侧（SGC）的变化，表明在个体而非群体水平上进行映射可能会更深入地了解与抑郁相关的神经回路失调，并且可能为抑郁患者提供更具体或个体化的治疗计划。我们设计了一种功能磁共振成像（fMRI）任务，能够对个体的 FL 活动进行成像，包括 SGC 区域，使用瞬态悲伤范式。我们试图开发一种方法，该方法可以更好地检测与悲伤相关的 FL 亚区的个体差异，因为该区域与抑郁失调有关。该任务基于一个块设计，也适应了对悲伤诱发范式反应性的个体差异。对九名非抑郁健康志愿者的个体差异进行了分析。我们还进行了功能连接分析，以进一步描述我们在每个个体中与 SGC 相关的网络的发现。该研究旨在考虑个体变异，而不是使用真正的实验设计；因此，不需要对照组。由于个体间的可变性，如预期的那样，在悲伤期间 SGC 激活的特定部位在个体之间发生变化。在其他大脑区域也观察到了与诱导性悲伤和抑郁的其他研究一致的激活。与 SGC 的功能连接模式也突出了已知支持悲伤和抑郁的神经回路。这项任务有望以高效、标准化的方式更精确地定位个体悲伤相关大脑回路的功能组织，并且可能有助于抑郁的治疗。
