Pang Jianyue, Xu Jiaying, Chen Long, Teng Huimin, Su Chenxiao, Zhang Zhiyuan, Gao Lingyun, Zhang Rui, Liu Gang, Chen Yuan, He Jin, Pang Yajing, Li Hengfen
Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Henan Key Laboratory of Brain Science and Brain-Computer Interface Technology, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Jun 4;15(1):188. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03409-0.
A family history (FH) of depression significantly influences the progress of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the underlying neural mechanism of FH remains unclear. This study examined the association between brain structural and connectivity alterations, inflammation, and FH in MDD. A total of 134 MDD patients with (FH group, n = 43) and without (NFH group, n = 91) first-degree FH and 96 demographic-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and sliding-window dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) analyses were performed, and inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) were detected. Compared with HCs, FH and NFH groups showed decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in the left cerebellum posterior lobe and increased dFC between this region and the left inferior parietal lobule. The FH group showed increased dFC between the cerebellum region and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) compared to NFH and HCs. The combination of these brain measurements further differentiated between FH and NFH. Moreover, the GMV of the cerebellum was positively correlated with CRP in the NFH group, while the dFC between the cerebellum and mPFC was positively correlated with IL-6 in the FH group. The present findings indicate that cerebellar structure and dynamic function vary according to FH of MDD and are related to inflammatory factors, potentially offering novel insights into the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of MDD.
抑郁症家族史（FH）对重度抑郁症（MDD）的病程有显著影响。然而，FH潜在的神经机制仍不清楚。本研究探讨了MDD患者脑结构和连接性改变、炎症与FH之间的关联。共招募了134例MDD患者，其中有一级FH的患者（FH组，n = 43）和无一级FH的患者（非FH组，n = 91），以及96名年龄、性别匹配的健康对照者（HCs）。进行了基于体素的形态学测量（VBM）和滑动窗口动态功能连接性（dFC）分析，并检测了炎症生物标志物（C反应蛋白（CRP）和白细胞介素-6（IL-6））。与HCs相比，FH组和非FH组左侧小脑后叶灰质体积（GMV）减少，且该区域与左侧顶下小叶之间的dFC增加。与非FH组和HCs相比，FH组小脑区域与内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）之间的dFC增加。这些脑测量指标的组合进一步区分了FH组和非FH组。此外，非FH组中小脑的GMV与CRP呈正相关，而FH组中小脑与mPFC之间的dFC与IL-6呈正相关。本研究结果表明，小脑结构和动态功能因MDD的FH而异，且与炎症因子有关，这可能为MDD潜在的致病机制提供新的见解。
