An independent component analysis reveals brain structural networks related to TNF-α in drug-naïve, first-episode major depressive disorder: a source-based morphometric study

Abstract

In a previous mouse study, social defeat stress-induced microglial activation released tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), leading to neuronal changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and behavioral changes (anxiety). We aimed to investigate the relationship between gray-matter (GM) structural networks and serum TNF-α in patients with major depression disorder (MDD) using multivariate source-based morphometry (SBM). Forty-five first-episode and drug-naïve MDD patients and 38 healthy subjects (HSs) were recruited. High-resolution T1-weighted imaging was performed and serum TNF-α levels were measured in all MDD patients and HSs. After acquiring GM structural networks using SBM, we compared the Z-transformed loading coefficients (Z-scores) between MDD patients and HSs, and investigated the relationship between the Z-scores and the serum TNF-α levels in MDD patients. The serum TNF-α levels in MDD patients were significantly higher than those in HSs. We extracted two independent GM structural networks (the prefrontal network and the insula-temporal network) with significant differences between MDD patients and HSs (−0.305 ± 0.85 and 0.253 ± 0.82; P = 0.03 in the prefrontal network, and −0.268 ± 0.86 and 0.467 ± 0.71; P < 0.01 in the insula-temporal network). The serum TNF-α levels were significantly correlated with the Z-scores in the prefrontal network after Bonferroni correction (r = −0.419, p < 0.01); however, the correlation in the insula-temporal network was not significant (r = −0.290, p = 0.11). Elevated serum TNF-α levels in the early stage of MDD were associated with alteration of the prefrontal network.

Back to Basics: The Importance of Measurement Properties in Biological Psychiatry

“…primarily used with neuroimaging and EEG data. Kakeda et al (2020) used ICA as a data-driven approach to identify brain regions that might differ in grey matter volume between individuals with depression (n=45) and controls (n=38), and whether the volume in these regions correlated with serum TNFα. Specifically, they used source-based morphometry (which applies an ICA to a segmented image) to arrange the voxels into common morphological features of grey matter concentration among participants.…”

Volume of Amygdala Subregions and Clinical Manifestations in Patients With First-Episode, Drug-Naïve Major Depression

“…The subjects in the present study overlapped with those in our published study (Kakeda et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2020;Watanabe et al, 2020), however, no study analyzed the amygdala. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan.…”

Effect of Narrative Nursing Intervention Based on Targeted Nursing Intervention on Anxiety and Nursing Satisfaction of Patients with Malignant Tumors Undergoing Chemotherapy

“… Depression and anxiety scale scores: the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were selected as the scoring basis, with 20 items each and the total maximum score of 100 points. Higher scores indicated that the negative emotion of patients was more serious [ 17 ]. The reliability of the scales has been confirmed by the domestic and foreign literature.…”