Tang Guixian, Chen Pan, Chen Guanmao, Yang Zibin, Ma Wenhao, Yan Hong, Su Ting, Zhang Yuan, Zhang Shu, Qi Zhangzhang, Fang Wenjie, Jiang Lijun, Tao Qian, Wang Ying
Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China; Institute of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; Division of Medical Psychology and Behavior Science, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
J Affect Disord. 2025 Apr 1;374:330-341. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.035. Epub 2025 Jan 12.
The neurobiological mechanisms behind the antidepressant effect of bright light therapy (BLT) are unclear. We aimed to explore the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) changes of the cingulate cortex (CC) in subthreshold depression (StD).
The StD participants (38 BLT and 39 placebo) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and mood assessment before and after eight-week BLT. Seed-based whole-brain dFC analysis was conducted and multivariate regression model was adopted to predict Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) scores changes after BLT. JuSpace toolbox was used to calculate the associations between dFC and neurotransmitter activity in the BLT group.
BLT group showed decreased CESD and HDRS scores. Also, BLT group showed increased dFC of the right supracallosal anterior cingulate cortex (supACC)-right temporal pole (TP), left middle cingulate cortex (MCC)-right insula, and left supACC-pons, and decreased dFC of the right supACC- right middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Changes in dFC of the right supACC-right TP showed positive correlation with changes in CESD and HDRS. Moreover, combining the baseline dFC variability of the CC could predict HDRS changes in BLT. Finally, compared to baseline, the supACC and MCC dFC changes showed significant correlations with the neurotransmitter activities.
BLT alleviates depressive symptoms and changes the CC dFC variability in StD, and pre-treatment dFC variability of the CC could be used as a biomarker for improved BLT treatment in StD. Furthermore, dFC changes with specific neurotransmitter systems after BLT may underline the antidepressant mechanisms of BLT.
强光疗法（BLT）抗抑郁作用背后的神经生物学机制尚不清楚。我们旨在探讨阈下抑郁症（StD）患者扣带回皮质（CC）的动态功能连接（dFC）变化。
StD参与者（38例接受BLT，39例接受安慰剂）在为期八周的BLT前后接受静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）和情绪评估。进行基于种子点的全脑dFC分析，并采用多元回归模型预测BLT后汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HDRS）和流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CESD）评分的变化。使用JuSpace工具包计算BLT组中dFC与神经递质活性之间的关联。
BLT组的CESD和HDRS评分降低。此外，BLT组右侧胼胝体上缘前扣带回皮质（supACC）-右侧颞极（TP）、左侧中扣带回皮质（MCC）-右侧脑岛以及左侧supACC-脑桥的dFC增加，而右侧supACC-右侧额中回（MFG）的dFC降低。右侧supACC-右侧TP的dFC变化与CESD和HDRS的变化呈正相关。此外，结合CC的基线dFC变异性可以预测BLT中HDRS的变化。最后，与基线相比，supACC和MCC的dFC变化与神经递质活性显著相关。
BLT可减轻StD患者的抑郁症状并改变CC的dFC变异性，CC的治疗前dFC变异性可作为改善StD患者BLT治疗效果的生物标志物。此外，BLT后dFC与特定神经递质系统的变化可能是BLT抗抑郁机制的基础。
