Department of Radiology and Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China.
Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China; Department of Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
J Adolesc Health. 2024 May;74(5):941-949. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.01.015. Epub 2024 Feb 28.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) tends to emerge during adolescence, but the neurobiology of adolescent MDD is still poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the topological organization of white matter structural networks and the relationship between structural and functional connectivity in adolescent MDD.
Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 94 first-episode drug-naïve adolescent MDD patients and 78 healthy adolescents. Whole brain structural and functional brain networks were constructed for each subject. Then, the topological organization of structural brain networks and the coupling strength between structural and functional connectivity were analyzed.
Compared with controls, adolescent MDD patients showed disrupted small-world, rich-club, and modular organizations. Nodal centralities in the medial part of bilateral superior frontal gyrus, bilateral hippocampus, right superior occipital gyrus, right angular gyrus, bilateral precuneus, left caudate nucleus, bilateral putamen, right superior temporal gyrus, and right temporal pole part of superior temporal gyrus were significantly lower in adolescent MDD patients compared with controls. The coupling strength between structural and functional connectivity was significantly lower in adolescent MDD patients compared with controls.
Our findings suggest widespread disruption of structural brain networks and structural-functional decoupling in adolescent MDD, potentially leading to reduced network communication capacity.
重度抑郁症（MDD）往往在青春期出现，但青春期 MDD 的神经生物学仍知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨青少年 MDD 的白质结构网络的拓扑组织以及结构和功能连接之间的关系。
对 94 名首次发作的、未使用药物的青少年 MDD 患者和 78 名健康青少年进行了结构和功能磁共振成像数据采集。为每个受试者构建了全脑结构和功能脑网络。然后，分析了结构脑网络的拓扑组织以及结构和功能连接之间的耦合强度。
与对照组相比，青少年 MDD 患者表现出小世界、丰富俱乐部和模块组织的破坏。与对照组相比，青少年 MDD 患者双侧额上回内侧部分、双侧海马体、右侧顶枕叶回、右侧角回、双侧楔前叶、左侧尾状核、双侧壳核、右侧颞上回以及右侧颞上回颞极部分的节点中心度明显降低。与对照组相比，青少年 MDD 患者的结构与功能连接之间的耦合强度明显降低。
我们的研究结果表明，青少年 MDD 存在广泛的结构脑网络破坏和结构-功能解耦，可能导致网络通信能力降低。
