Zhang Shuai, He Jia-Kai, Zhong Gang-Liang, Wang Yu, Zhao Ya-Nan, Wang Lei, Li Shao-Yuan, Xiao Xue, Yang Zheng-Yi, Zhao Bin, Zhang Jin-Ling, Jiang Tian-Zi, Fang Ji-Liang, Rong Pei-Jing
Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Brainnetome Center, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Brain Sci. 2022 Dec 17;12(12):1730. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12121730.
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is effective for treating major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to explore the modulating effect of prolonged longitudinal taVNS on the striatal subregions' functional connectivity (FC) in MDD patients.
Sixteen MDD patients were enrolled and treated with taVNS for 8 weeks. Sixteen healthy control subjects (HCs) were recruited without intervention. The resting-state FC (rsFC) based on striatal subregion seed points and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) were evaluated in the MDD patients and HCs at baseline and after 8 weeks. A two-way ANCOVA test was performed on each rsFC metric to obtain the (group-by-time) interactions.
The rsFC values between the left ventral caudate (vCa) and right ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), and between the right nucleus accumbens (NAc) and right dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) are lower in the MDD patients compared to the HCs at baseline, and increase following taVNS; the rsFC values between the left vCa and right, superior occipital gyrus (SOG), and between the left dorsal caudate (dCa) and right cuneus are higher in MDD patients and decrease following taVNS.
Prolonged longitudinal taVNS can modulate the striatum rsFC with the prefrontal cortex, occipital cortex, temporal cortex, and intra-striatum, and these changes partly underlie any symptomatic improvements. The results indicate that prolonged longitudinal taVNS may produce beneficial treatment effects by modulating the cortical striatum circuitry in patients with MDD.
经皮耳迷走神经刺激（taVNS）对治疗重度抑郁症（MDD）有效。我们旨在探讨长期纵向taVNS对MDD患者纹状体亚区功能连接（FC）的调节作用。
招募16例MDD患者，接受taVNS治疗8周。招募16名健康对照者（HCs），不进行干预。在基线和8周后，对MDD患者和HCs评估基于纹状体亚区种子点的静息态FC（rsFC）和汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD）。对每个rsFC指标进行双向协方差分析，以获得（组×时间）交互作用。
与HCs相比，MDD患者在基线时左腹侧尾状核（vCa）与右腹侧前额叶皮质（vPFC）之间、右伏隔核（NAc）与右背内侧前额叶皮质（dmPFC）和腹外侧前额叶皮质（vlPFC）之间的rsFC值较低，taVNS后升高；MDD患者左vCa与右枕上回（SOG）之间、左背侧尾状核（dCa）与右楔叶之间的rsFC值较高，taVNS后降低。
长期纵向taVNS可调节纹状体与前额叶皮质、枕叶皮质、颞叶皮质及纹状体内的rsFC，这些变化部分解释了症状改善的原因。结果表明，长期纵向taVNS可能通过调节MDD患者的皮质纹状体回路产生有益的治疗效果。
