Chen Pan, Chen Guanmao, Tang Guixian, Yang Zibin, Ma Wenhao, Chen Chao, Sun Shilin, Zhang Yuan, Zhang Shu, Qi Zhangzhang, Fang Wenjie, Jiang Lijun, Huang Li, Ma Junxian, Tao Qian, Wang Ying
Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Institute of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2025 Dec;27(1):184-200. doi: 10.1080/19585969.2025.2503367. Epub 2025 Jun 1.
Bright light therapy (BLT) demonstrates efficacy in alleviating subthreshold depression (StD) among young adults. The amygdala plays a critical role in depression.
StD subjects were divided into BLT group (N=47) and placebo group (N=42). Depression severity was assessed using HAM-D, Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) pre-/post-8-week intervention. Structural/resting-state fMRI scan was conducted. Seed-based static FC (sFC) and dynamic FC (dFC) analyses of the bilateral amygdala and their subfields were conducted.
Compared to placebo, BLT showed reduced depression scale, and increased sFC of right basolateral amygdala (BLA)/superficial amygdala (SFA)-right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and dFC of right centralmedial amygdala (CMA) and right inferior orbital frontal gyrus, and decreased sFC of right amygdalostriatal transition/CMA- left thalamus and dFC of right SFA- right medial prefrontal cortex after intervention; while the whole amygdala and its subnuclei volume did not change significantly after BLT. Right BLA-MTG sFC changes positively correlated with BDI improvement. Baseline amygdala sFC/dFC predicted post-BLT symptom changes. BLT-induced right BLA sFC alterations spatially correlated with 5-HT1A/5-HT2A receptor distributions, and right CMA dFC changes with 5-HT1A.
Findings suggest BLT modulates amygdala-thalamocortical circuits and serotonergic pathways, highlighting FC biomarkers for treatment efficacy assessment.
TRIAL REGISTRATION CLINICALTRIALS.GOV IDENTIFIER: ChiCTR2000032633.
强光疗法（BLT）在缓解年轻成年人的亚阈值抑郁（StD）方面显示出疗效。杏仁核在抑郁症中起关键作用。
将StD受试者分为BLT组（N = 47）和安慰剂组（N = 42）。在8周干预前后，使用汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAM-D）、流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）和贝克抑郁量表（BDI）评估抑郁严重程度。进行了结构/静息态功能磁共振成像扫描。对双侧杏仁核及其亚区进行了基于种子点的静态功能连接（sFC）和动态功能连接（dFC）分析。
与安慰剂相比，BLT显示抑郁量表得分降低，右侧基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）/浅层杏仁核（SFA）-右侧颞中回（MTG）的sFC增加，右侧中央内侧杏仁核（CMA）和右侧眶额下回的dFC增加，干预后右侧杏仁核纹状体过渡区/CMA-左侧丘脑的sFC降低，右侧SFA-右侧内侧前额叶皮质的dFC降低；而BLT后整个杏仁核及其亚核体积无明显变化。右侧BLA-MTG的sFC变化与BDI改善呈正相关。基线杏仁核sFC/dFC可预测BLT后的症状变化。BLT诱导的右侧BLA的sFC改变在空间上与5-HT1A/5-HT2A受体分布相关，右侧CMA的dFC变化与5-HT1A相关。
研究结果表明BLT可调节杏仁核-丘脑皮质回路和血清素能通路，突出了用于治疗疗效评估的功能连接生物标志物。
ClinicalTrials.gov标识符：ChiCTR2000032633。
