Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition and Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27705, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Dec;144:338-344. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.10.024. Epub 2021 Oct 22.
Establishing a better understanding of the structure of the hierarchy is a primary goal of neuroscience. Recent research has highlighted a connectome gradient dysfunction in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it remains unclear whether these changes exist prior to the onset of the disease.
We used a newly developed resting-state functional connectivity (FC)-based gradient approach to evaluate the principal functional gradient in individuals with cognitive vulnerability to depression (CVD) and healthy controls (HC). We further examined the associations between CVD-related alterations in the principal connectome gradient with multiple cognitive behavioral variables.
Individuals with CVD showed significantly lower functional gradient scores in the left ventral insular gyrus than HC. The left ventral insular gyrus gradient score was positively correlated with the total attentional control scale as well as the dimension of attentional control. The left ventral insular gyrus gradient score was negatively correlated with the total BHS scale, the dimension of expectations, the total RRS scale, and the depression-related dimension.
The preliminary results indicate that alterations in the principal functional gradient in individuals with CVD might be a biomarker of cognitive vulnerability to MDD, and the alterations may exist prior to the onset of depression.
更好地理解层次结构是神经科学的主要目标。最近的研究强调了重度抑郁症（MDD）患者的连接组梯度功能障碍。然而，目前尚不清楚这些变化是否在疾病发作之前就存在。
我们使用新开发的基于静息状态功能连接（FC）的梯度方法来评估对抑郁有认知易感性（CVD）的个体和健康对照（HC）的主要功能梯度。我们进一步研究了与 CVD 相关的主要连接组梯度改变与多种认知行为变量之间的关系。
与 HC 相比，CVD 个体的左侧腹侧脑岛的功能梯度得分明显较低。左侧腹侧脑岛梯度得分与总注意力控制量表以及注意力控制维度呈正相关。左侧腹侧脑岛梯度得分与总 BHS 量表、期望维度、总 RRS 量表和与抑郁相关的维度呈负相关。
初步结果表明，CVD 个体主要功能梯度的改变可能是 MDD 认知易感性的生物标志物，并且这种改变可能在抑郁发作之前就存在。
