Brain structural and functional abnormalities in affective network are associated with anxious depression.

BACKGROUND: Anxious depression (AD) is a common subtype of major depressive disorder (MDD). Neuroimaging studies of AD have revealed inconsistent and heterogeneous brain alterations with the use of single-model methods. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the pathogenesis of AD using multi-model imaging analyses to obtain more homogeneous and robust results. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-two patients with MDD and 64 matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to estimate the gray matter volume (GMV) of all subjects. The GMV differences between the AD and non-anxious depression (NAD) participants were used as regions of interest (ROIs) for subsequent resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the associations between clinical symptoms and abnormal function in specific brain areas. RESULTS: Decreased GMV in the medial frontal gyrus (MFG) and the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) was observed in the AD group compared to the NAD group. Taking the MFG and SFG as ROIs, the rs-FC analysis revealed decreased FC between the left SFG and left temporal pole and between the left SFG and right MFG in the AD group compared to the NAD group. Finally, the FC between the left SFG and left temporal pole was negatively correlated with HAMD-17 scores in the AD group. CONCLUSION: By combining the GMV and rs-FC models, this study revealed that structural and functional disruption of the affective network may be an important pathophysiology underlying AD. The structural impairment may serve as the foundation of the functional impairment.

A resting-state functional MRI study on amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and functional connectivity alteration of parkinson′s disease with apathy / 中华放射学杂志

Objective:To investigate the alterations of amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) in patients with Parkinson′s disease (PD) with apathy.Methods:From May 2016 to August 2019, PD patients and age-, gender-and education level-matched healthy controls (HC) in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were prospectively recruited. The clinical and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data of PD patients and HC were analyzed. According to the Starkstein Apathy Scale (SAS) scores, PD patients were divided into PD with apathy (PD-A) group and PD without apathy (PD-NA) group. Rs-fMRI images were processed by DPABI based on MATLAB. ALFF values were calculated and the standard ALFF (zALFF) were obtained. ANOVA and Post-Hoc t test were performed to compare the differences in local brain activity among the three groups. The brain regions with significant different zALFF values were selected as the seeds to calculate the FC values of the whole brain. The associations between FC values and the SAS scores were performed using pearson correlation analyses. Results:A total of 75 PD patients (50 males, 25 females, aged from 44 to 88 years) and 41 HC (25 males, 16 females, aged from 54 to 72 years) were enrolled. There were 42 patients in the PD-A group and 33 patients in the PD-NA group. Significant differences were found in zALFF values among the PD-A, PD-NA and HC groups ( P<0.05). After Post-Hoc t test, compared with the HC group, zALFF values were significantly increased in the right middle frontal gyrus in the PD-A group ( P<0.05) and significantly decreased in the left precuneus in the PD-NA group; The zALFF values of the right middle frontal gyrus and left precuneus in the PD-A group were significantly higher than those in PD-NA group ( P<0.05). Brain regions with different zALFF values were used as seeds for whole-brain FC. Compared with PD-NA group, FC values between the right middle frontal gyrus and bilateral precuneus, left superior frontal gyrus and its medial side, left middle frontal gyrus, left angular, left anterior cingulate gyrus, left posterior cingulate gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus were significantly decreased in the PD-A group ( P<0.05). Additionally, FC values of PD patients between the right middle frontal gyrus with the left precuneus, the left superior frontal gyrus and its medial side, and the left middle frontal gyrus were negatively correlated with SAS scores ( r=-0.31, -0.30 and -0.34, both P<0.05). Conclusion:PD-A and PD-NA patients have different brain functional activities and connections in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe and limbic system, suggesting that apathy in PD may be associated with the abnormal functional connections of the frontal-parietal cortical circuit and the frontal-limbic-striatal loop.

Irisin Enhances Angiogenesis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Promote Cardiac Function in Myocardial Infarction via PI3k/Akt Activation

Background and Objectives@#With the growing incidence of acute myocardial infarction (MI), angiogenesis is vital for cardiac function post-MI. The role of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in angiogenesis has been previously confirmed. Irisin is considered a potential vector for angiogenesis. The objective of the present study was to investigate the potential role of irisin in the angiogenesis of BMSCs. @*Methods@#and Results: In vivo, irisin-treated BMSCs (BMSCs＋irisin) were transplanted into an MI mouse model. On day 28 post-MI, blood vessel markers were detected, and cardiac function and infarct areas of mice were evaluated. In vitro, paracrine effects were assessed by examining tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) co-cultured with the BMSCs＋irisin supernatant. The scratch wound-healing assay was performed to evaluate HUVEC migration. Western blotting was performed to determine PI3k/Akt pathway activation in the BMSCs＋irisin group. Transplantation of BMSCs＋irisin promoted greater angiogenesis, resulting in better cardiac function in the MI mouse model than in controls. In the BMSC＋irisin group, HUVECs demonstrated enhanced tube formation and migration. Activation of the PI3k/Akt pathway was found to be involved in mediating the role of irisin in the angiogenesis of BMSCs. @*Conclusions@#In cardiovascular diseases such as MI, irisin administration can enhance angiogenesis of BMSCs and pro-mote cardiac function via the PI3k/Akt pathway, optimizing the therapeutic effect based on BMSCs transplantation.

Characteristics of amplitude of low frequency fluctuations in the frontal lobe in depression patients with different sleep quality and its relationship with memory function / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective:To explore the association between the spontaneous neural activity and memory function in depressive patients with different sleep quality.Methods:Totally 58 patients with depressive disorder and 58 gender-, age-, education-matched healthy controls (HC) completed 3.0 T MRI Scanning and clinical assessment including Wechsler memory scale (WMS), 24 Hamilton depression scale(HAMD-24) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). According to the score of PSQI, patients were divided into poor sleep quality group (PS, n=38) and good sleep quality group (GS, n=20). Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) were calculated and compared among three groups.Correlation analyses between the brain activity and the score of WMS were conducted as well. Results:Memory quotient of WMS showed differences among three groups( F=14.163, P<0.01), and the lowest score was found in patients with low sleep quality.The brain areas showed significant differences among three groups located in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (lmSFG, MNI: x=-10, y=30, z=58; K=56), right orbital inferior frontal gyrus (roIFG, MNI: x=26, y=20, z=-26; K=24) and left middle frontal gyrus (lMFG, MNI: x=-40 y=32, z=42; K=25) (voxel size P<0.001, cluster size P<0.05, GRF corrected). Compared with GS group, the ALFF of PS group showed significantly increased in the lmSFG, which was negatively correlated with memory quotient ( r=-0.327, P=0.045) and short term memory( r=-0.388, P=0.016). Compared with HC group, the ALFF of PS group showed increased in the lmSFG and lMFG, GS group showed increased ALFF in the roIFG. Conclusion:The impairment of memory function is more serious in patients with depression of low sleep quality, and the activity of frontal lobe is abnormally increased, which is related to memory function.Their association suggests that poor sleep quality in depressive patients may impair memory function by disrupting neural plasticity and synaptic pruning in the frontal lobes.

Study on functional connectivity between the subgenual anterior cingulate cortes and limbic cortices in predicting the efficacy of early antidepressant treatment outcome / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To explore the role of functional connectivity( FC) between the subgenual anterior cingulate cortes(sgACC) and limbic cortices in predicting the efficacy of early antidepressant treat-ment. Methods Resting state magnetoencephalography( MEG) data were collected from 32 patients with major depressive disorder(MDD) and 20 matched healthy control subjects at baseline.According to whether the HAMD17total score reduction rate reached 50% after 2 weeks,the patients were divided into responder group and non-responder group.The difference of the FC,the relationship between the FC and the change rate of HAMD17were explored. Results Compared with controls,MDD patients showed decreased connectivity of the sgACC with the right hippocampus(MNI coordinate:x＝30,y＝－3,z＝－24; F＝5.11,P＝0.028),the right amygdala(MNI coordinate:x＝22,y＝－2,z＝－15; F＝6.90,P＝0.012) and the left amygdala(MNI coordi- nate:x＝－24,y＝－6,z＝－16; F＝5.75,P＝0.020).Compared with non-responders,the connectivity of the sgACC with the right hippocampus(MNI coordinate:x＝30,y＝－3,z＝－24;F＝8.74,P＝0.0065),the right a-mygdala(MNI coordinate:x＝22,y＝－2,z＝－15; F＝12.417,P＝0.0016) were higher in responders.Pretreat-ment connectivity of the sgACC with the right hippocampus(r＝－0.50,P＝0.0066),the right amygdala(r＝－0.56,P＝0.0018) were negatively correlated with clinical improvement.ROC analyses confirmed the value of the connectivity of sgACC with the right hippocampus(area under curve(AUC)＝0.71,P＝0.042),the right amygdala(AUC＝0.73,P＝0.029) in classifying responders versus non-responders in 2 weeks of treatment. Conclusion The decreased FC of the sgACC with the right hippocampus and the right amygdala at baseline is associated with a better improvement,which can potentially serve as a treatment outcome biomarker in ear-ly curative effect of depression.