Comparisons of the resting-state fMRI functional connectivity of the habenula in the first-episode current depression and remitted depression / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the difference of functional connectivity(FC) between the habenula and other brain regions in the patients with first-episode current depression (fMDD) and remitted depression (rMDD).Methods:Thirty-five patients with first-episode current depression (fMDD), 35 patients with remitted depression (rMDD) and 30 healthy controls (HC) matched with gender, age and education years were scanned by resting-state fMRI. Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD 17) was used to assess the severity of the patients. After preprocessing, seed-based FC analysis was performed on the habenula. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between the FC values and HAMD 17 and duration of disease. Results:(1) Compared with the HC group, FC decreased between the habenula and left middle occipital gyrus(l-MOG) in fMDD group (x, y, z=-48, -84, 3, t=-4.335, P<0.05), while FC increased between the habenula and left supramarginal gyrus (x, y, z=-66, -30, 36, t=4.876, P<0.05), left superior frontal gyrus(l-SFG) (x, y, z=-6, -33, 51, t=4.402, P<0.05), left inferior parietal lobe(l-IPL)( t=3.300, P<0.05) and right inferior parietal lobe(r-IPL) ( t=3.557, P<0.05) in fMDD group. Compared with the HC, FC decreased between the habenula and l-MOG (x, y, z=-48, -84, 3, t=-4.321, P<0.05) and left thalamus (x, y, z=-9, 3, 3, t=-3.971, P<0.05) in rMDD group, while FC increased between the habenula and left middle temporal gyrus(l-MTG)( x, y, z=-48, -39, 9, t=4.062, P<0.05), left supramarginal gyrus (x, y, z=-51, -15, 45, t=2.906, P<0.05), l-SFG (x, y, z=-24, -21, 39, t=3.044, P<0.05), l-IPL ( t=2.880, P<0.05) and r-IPL ( t=3.512, P<0.05) in rMDD group. (2) FC decreased in fMDD group between the habenula and right orbitofrontal cortex(r-OFC) ( t=-3.899, P<0.05) and l-MTG ( t=-4.023, P<0.05) than rMDD group, while FC increased between the habenula and left supramarginal gyrus ( t=4.157, P<0.05), l-SFG( t=3.327, P<0.05), left thalamus ( t=3.316, P<0.05) and l-IPL ( t=3.909, P<0.05) than rMDD group. (3)There was no significantly correlation between the HAMD 17 and the FC value changes among the different regions, and was marginal significantly correlation between duration of disease and the FC values from the habenula and l-MOG( r=0.328, P=0.063). Conclusion:Both fMDD and rMDD show abnormal FC between the habenula and default mode network, visual network and reward network, which may be related to the pathogenesis of depression. The FC of the habenula in rMDD still had not recovered to normal.