Resting state default‐mode network connectivity in early depression using a seed region‐of‐interest analysis: Decreased connectivity with caudate nucleus

Abstract

Aim: Reports on resting brain activity in healthy controls have described a default-mode network (DMN) and important differences in DMN connectivity have emerged for several psychiatric conditions. No study to date, however, has investigated resting-state DMN in relatively early depression before years of medication treatment. The objective of the present study was, therefore, to investigate the DMN in patients seeking help from specialized mental health services for the first time for symptoms of depression.Methods: Fourteen depressed subjects and 15 matched controls were scanned using 4-T functional magnetic resonance imaging while resting with eyes closed. All but one subject was medication free. A precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (P/PCC) seedregion connectivity analysis was used to identify the DMN and compare study groups in regions of relevance to depression. Results:The P/PCC analysis identified the DMN well in both study groups, consistent with prior literature. Direct comparison showed significantly reduced correlation between the P/PCC and the bilateral caudate in depression compared with controls and no areas of increased connectivity in the depressed group. Conclusions:The present study is the first to investigate resting-state DMN in the early stages of treatment-seeking for depression. Depressed subjects had decreased connectivity between the P/PCC and the bilateral caudate, regions known to be involved in motivation and reward processing. Deficits in DMN connectivity with the caudate may be an early manifestation of major depressive disorder.

Reduced salience and default mode network activity in women with anorexia nervosa

“…Such a pattern of possible state-related abnormalities in psychiatric populations has been suggested previously. [67][68][69] Women with anorexia nervosa and recovered women showed typical demographic and behavioural results and, as found previously, women with anorexia nervosa had increased IU scores. 70 Recovered women showed a tendency toward increased IU scores compared with controls.…”

Desynchronization and Plasticity of Striato-frontal Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder

“…1). This is a critical departure from previous studies, which examined only dominant patterns of connectivity using 1) seed region analysis (Bluhm et al 2009;Sheline et al 2009;Hamilton, Chen, et al 2011; or 2) single RSNs defined using ICA (Greicius et al 2007). For example, although previous seed-region studies in healthy individuals have demonstrated that the primary pattern of RSFC in the VS involves the orbitofrontal cortex (Di Martino et al 2008), our approach statistically removed this dominant signal (i.e., the OFN, Fig.…”

Specifying the Neuropsychology of Affective Disorders: Clinical, Demographic and Neurobiological Factors

“…The authors conclude that these DMN changes may reflect ruminative processes in depression. Bluhm et al (2009) reported abnormalities of the DMN in a resting state in depressed patients in that there was a reduced connectivity between the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex and the basal ganglia, whereas the connectivity between emotionally relevant brain structures in another study reported by Greicius et al (2007) was increased. These authors found an increased integration of the subgenual ACC in the DMN activity and they therefore suggested that the DMN is altered in MDD.…”