Department of Psychiatry，Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China.
Department of Psychiatry，Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China; Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430071, China.
Asian J Psychiatr. 2024 Dec;102:104303. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2024.104303. Epub 2024 Nov 4.
Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown altered brain activity in major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Despite differing diagnoses, SZ and MDD share similar features. However, functional brain activity similarities and differences between SZ and MDD remain unclear.
Participants with MDD, SZ, and normal controls (n=36 each) underwent resting-state fMRI scans. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was used to analyze the preprocessed rs-fMRI data. One-way ANOVAs and post hoc analyses compared ALFF values in different brain regions. Pearson correlation analysis examined associations with clinical symptoms.
Comparison among the three groups revealed significant differences in ALFF values within the left superior parietal cortex (L-SPC) and bilateral striatum. Through pairwise comparisons, patients with SZ but not patients with MDD were found to exhibit increased striatum ALFF values relative to NC individuals, but decreased in MDD. Meanwhile, L-SPC ALFF values were significantly increased in patients with SZ relative to both normal control individuals and patients with MDD, while no differences in these values were observed between the normal control and MDD groups. The Pearson correlation analyses showed significant positive correlations between ALFF in the striatum and PANSS positive score, but no significant correlation with other symptom severity in SZ and MDD.
These findings support the hypothesis of alterations in brain functional activity as a fundamental component of the pathogenesis of MDD and SZ. The observed differences in functional brain activity in the superior parietal cortex and striatum between MDD and SZ provide a neuroimaging basis that can contribute to the differential diagnosis of these debilitating conditions.
静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究表明，重度抑郁症（MDD）和精神分裂症（SZ）患者大脑活动发生改变。尽管诊断不同，但 SZ 和 MDD 具有相似的特征。然而，SZ 和 MDD 之间的功能脑活动相似性和差异性仍不清楚。
36 名 MDD 患者、36 名 SZ 患者和 36 名正常对照者接受静息态 fMRI 扫描。采用低频振幅（ALFF）分析预处理的 rs-fMRI 数据。单因素方差分析和事后分析比较不同脑区的 ALFF 值。Pearson 相关分析评估与临床症状的相关性。
三组间比较发现，左侧顶上回（L-SPC）和双侧纹状体的 ALFF 值存在显著差异。通过两两比较发现，与 NC 个体相比，SZ 患者而非 MDD 患者纹状体的 ALFF 值增加，但 MDD 患者的 ALFF 值降低。同时，与正常对照组和 MDD 组相比，SZ 患者的 L-SPC ALFF 值显著增加，而正常对照组和 MDD 组之间的 L-SPC ALFF 值无差异。Pearson 相关分析显示，纹状体的 ALFF 值与 PANSS 阳性评分呈显著正相关，但与 SZ 和 MDD 中其他症状严重程度无显著相关性。
这些发现支持了脑功能活动改变是 MDD 和 SZ 发病机制的基本组成部分的假说。MDD 和 SZ 之间顶上回和纹状体功能脑活动的差异提供了神经影像学基础，有助于这些致残性疾病的鉴别诊断。
