Liu Xiaozheng, Chen Xiaojun, Cheng Jinming, Wei Fuquan, Hou Hongtao, Li Jiapeng, Liu Kun, Guo Zhongwei, Yan Zhihan, Wu Aiqin
From the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, China (X. Liu, Chen, K. Liu, Yan, Wu); the Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Structural and Functional Imaging, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China (X. Liu, Chen, K. Liu, Yan); the Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321000, China (Chen); the Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050050, China (Cheng); the Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, China (Wei, Hou, Li, Guo); the Zhoushan Second People's Hospital, Zhoushan, Zhejiang 316000, China (Guo).
From the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, China (X. Liu, Chen, K. Liu, Yan, Wu); the Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Structural and Functional Imaging, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China (X. Liu, Chen, K. Liu, Yan); the Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321000, China (Chen); the Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050050, China (Cheng); the Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, China (Wei, Hou, Li, Guo); the Zhoushan Second People's Hospital, Zhoushan, Zhejiang 316000, China (Guo)
J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2025 Jan 3;50(1):E11-E20. doi: 10.1503/jpn.240111. Print 2025 Jan-Feb.
Both depressive symptoms and neurotransmitter changes affect the characteristics of functional brain networks in clinical patients. We sought to explore how brain functional grading is organized among patients with mild cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms (D-MCI) and whether changes in brain organization are related to neurotransmitter distribution.
Using 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we acquired functional MRI (fMRI) data from patients with D-MCI, patients with mild cognitive impairment without depression (nD-MCI), and healthy controls. We used resting-state fMRI and diffusion embedding to examine the pattern of functional connectivity gradients. We used analysis of covariance and post hoc tests to compare the difference in functional connectivity gradients among the 3 groups. We examined the correlation between variations in functional connectivity gradients and neurotransmitter maps using the JuSpace toolbox.
We included 105 participants, including 31 patients with D-MCI, 40 patients with nD-MCI, and 34 healthy controls. Compared with healthy controls, both the nD-MCI and D-MCI groups showed abnormalities in the principal unimodal-transmodal gradient pattern. Compared with controls, the D-MCI group showed an increased secondary gradient in the default mode network. Differences in the functional connectivity gradients between the D-MCI and nD-MCI groups were significantly correlated with the distribution of 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor subtype 1A.
The small sample size affects the generalizability of the results, and the neurotransmitter template is based on healthy participants, not patients.
Our results suggest that depressive symptoms cause abnormalities in the hierarchical segregation of functional brain organization among patients with MCI. Such abnormal changes may be related to the distribution of neurotransmitters.
抑郁症状和神经递质变化均会影响临床患者功能性脑网络的特征。我们试图探究轻度认知障碍伴抑郁症状（D-MCI）患者的脑功能分级是如何组织的，以及脑组织结构的变化是否与神经递质分布有关。
我们使用3T磁共振成像（MRI）从D-MCI患者、无抑郁的轻度认知障碍（nD-MCI）患者和健康对照者中获取功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据。我们使用静息态fMRI和扩散嵌入来检查功能连接梯度模式。我们使用协方差分析和事后检验来比较三组之间功能连接梯度的差异。我们使用JuSpace工具箱检查功能连接梯度变化与神经递质图谱之间的相关性。
我们纳入了105名参与者，包括31名D-MCI患者、40名nD-MCI患者和34名健康对照者。与健康对照者相比，nD-MCI组和D-MCI组在主要单峰-跨峰梯度模式上均表现异常。与对照组相比，D-MCI组在默认模式网络中显示出二级梯度增加。D-MCI组和nD-MCI组之间功能连接梯度的差异与5-羟色胺受体亚型1A的分布显著相关。
样本量小影响了结果的普遍性，并且神经递质模板基于健康参与者，而非患者。
我们的结果表明，抑郁症状会导致MCI患者功能性脑组织分层分离异常。这种异常变化可能与神经递质的分布有关。
