Impaired robust interhemispheric function integration of depressive brain from REST‐meta‐MDD database in China

Abstract

Background Recently, functional homotopy (FH) architecture, defined as robust functional connectivity (FC) between homotopic regions, has been frequently reported to be altered in MDD patients (MDDs) but with divergent locations. Methods In this study, we obtained resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R‐fMRI) data from 1004 MDDs (mean age, 33.88 years; age range, 18–60 years) and 898 matched healthy controls (HCs) from an aggregated dataset from 20 centers in China. We focused on interhemispheric function integration in MDDs and its correlation with clinical characteristics using voxel‐mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) devised to inquire about FH patterns. Results As compared with HCs, MDDs showed decreased VMHC in visual, motor, somatosensory, limbic, angular gyrus, and cerebellum, particularly in posterior cingulate gyrus/precuneus (PCC/PCu) (false discovery rate [FDR] q < 0.002, z = −7.07). Further analysis observed that the reduction in SMG and insula was more prominent with age, of which SMG reflected such age‐related change in males instead of females. Besides, the reduction in MTG was found to be a male‐special abnormal pattern in MDDs. VMHC alterations were markedly related to episode type and illness severity. The higher Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score, the more apparent VMHC reduction in the primary visual cortex. First‐episode MDDs revealed stronger VMHC reduction in PCu relative to recurrent MDDs. Conclusions We confirmed a significant VMHC reduction in MDDs in broad areas, especially in PCC/PCu. This reduction was affected by gender, age, episode type, and illness severity. These findings suggest that the depressive brain tends to disconnect information exchange across hemispheres.

Resting‐state cerebral blood flow and functional connectivity abnormalities in depressed patients with childhood maltreatment: Potential biomarkers of vulnerability?

“…CBF in the parietal lobe, including S1 and PCC, was negatively associated with the severity of depression and childhood maltreatment in MDD. 40,42 S1 is involved in pain and emotional experiences processing. 43 MDD with CM performed lower amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in LS1, contributing to abnormal sensation.…”

Heterogeneous brain dynamic functional connectivity patterns in first‐episode drug‐naive patients with major depressive disorder

“…In this study, we employed data from International Big‐Data Center for Depression Research (IBCDR), which was collected in China (The data is available by request from any qualified investigator. Website: http://yanlab.psych.ac.cn/IBCDR ) (Deng et al, 2022 ; Ding et al, 2022 ). The data use agreement was attached as supplementary material.…”

Functional Connectivity Abnormalities of the Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Implications for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Depression

“…To address the issue of sample-size, we initiated the Depression Imaging REsearch ConsorTium (DIRECT) (45) and and carried out an initial meta/mega-analysis (NMDD = 1300), referred to as REST-meta-MDD (40). Studies from the initially shared DIRECT data revealed multiple MDDrelated abnormalities including in network FC, whole-brain FC topological and dynamic features, and functional lateralization (40,(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52). The DIRECT Phase I neuroimaging data were preprocessed using a volume-based approach (DPARSF (53,54)), producing voxel-wise BOLD time series at each participating hospital which were then shared.…”