Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100010, China; Beijing Institute of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100010, China.
Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 26129, Germany.
J Affect Disord. 2022 May 1;304:133-141. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.02.059. Epub 2022 Feb 24.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent mood disorder, characterized by depressed mood, reduced capabilities to concentrate, impaired cognition, as well as a high risk of relapse. Unaffected siblings who have high risks for MDD development and yet without clinical symptoms may be helpful for understanding the neural mechanisms of MDD traits.
We investigated both regional fluctuation and inter-regional synchronization in 31 fully remitted MDD patients, 29 unaffected siblings and 43 age, gender, and educational level matched helathy controls (HCs) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The 17-item HAMD and neurocognitive scales were performed. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) strength were investigated.
Compared with healthy control group, patients with remitted MDD and unaffected siblings showed increased fALFF in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and increased FC between the left dmPFC and the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In addition, a negative correlation was observed between the fALFF value in the left dmPFC and the speed of Trail Making Test in the remitted MDD patients. Higher vmPFC-dmPFC FC was positively correlated with Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) total correct, and negatively correlated with WCST random errors.
In the absence of clinical symptoms, individuals with remitted MDD and unaffected siblings showed increased fALFF in left dmPFC as well as the vmPFC-dmPFC connectivity. These results suggest a specific trait abnormality in the default mode network associated with vulnerability to MDD, which may have implications for developing effective therapies using this network as a target.
重度抑郁症（MDD）是一种高发的情绪障碍，其特征为情绪低落、注意力集中能力下降、认知受损，以及复发风险高。未受影响但有较高 MDD 发病风险且无临床症状的兄弟姐妹，可能有助于理解 MDD 特征的神经机制。
我们使用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI），对 31 名完全缓解的 MDD 患者、29 名未受影响的兄弟姐妹和 43 名年龄、性别和教育程度匹配的健康对照者（HCs）进行了区域波动和区域间同步性的研究。进行了 17 项汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD）和神经认知量表评估。检测了分数低频波动（fALFF）和功能连接（FC）强度。
与健康对照组相比，缓解期 MDD 患者和未受影响的兄弟姐妹组显示左侧背内侧前额叶皮层（dmPFC）的 fALFF 增加，以及左侧 dmPFC 与右侧腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）之间的 FC 增加。此外，缓解期 MDD 患者左侧 dmPFC 的 fALFF 值与 Trail Making Test 的速度呈负相关。较高的 vmPFC-dmPFC FC 与威斯康星卡片分类测试（WCST）的总正确数呈正相关，与 WCST 的随机错误呈负相关。
在无临床症状的情况下，缓解期 MDD 患者和未受影响的兄弟姐妹组的左侧 dmPFC 以及 vmPFC-dmPFC 连接中出现了 fALFF 增加。这些结果表明，与 MDD 易感性相关的默认模式网络存在特定的特征异常，这可能对以该网络为靶点开发有效的治疗方法具有重要意义。
