Chao Wang1, Huawang Wu2, Fangfang Chen3, Jinping Xu4, Hongming Li5, Hong Li6, Jiaojian Wang7. 1. College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. 2. Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Guangzhou Huiai Hospital), Guangzhou 100053, China. 3. College of mathematics and statistics, Shenzhen University of China, Shenzhen 518060, China. 4. Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China. 5. Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. 6. College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: lihongszu@szu.edu.cn. 7. Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 625014, China. Electronic address: jiaojianwang@uestc.edu.cn.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by impairments in emotional and cognitive functions. Emerging studies have shown that cognition and emotion interact by reaching identical brain regions, and the insula is one such region with functional and structural heterogeneity. Although previous literatures have shown the role of insula in MDD，it remains unclear whether the insular subregions show differential change patterns in MDD. METHODS: Using the resting-state fMRI data in a group of 23 drug-free MDD patients and 34 healthy controls (HCs), we investigated whether the abnormal connectivity patterns of insular sub-regions or any behavioural correlates can be detected in MDD. Further hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify the functional connectivity-clustering patterns of insular sub-regions. RESULTS: Compared with HCs, the MDD exhibited higher connectivities between dorsal agranular insula and inferior parietal lobule and between ventral dysgranular and granular insula and thalamus/habehula, and lower connectivity of hypergranular insula to subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, the three subregions with significant group differences were in three separate functional systems along anterior-to-posteior gradient. The anterior and middle insula showed positive correlation with depressive severity, while the posterior insular was to the contrary. LIMITATIONS: The small and unbalanced sample size, only included moderate and severe depression and the possible inter-individual differences may limit the interpretability. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provided evidences for the MDD-related effects in functional connectivity patterns of insular subregions, and revealed that the subregions might be involved in different neural circuits associated with the contrary impacts on the depressive symptoms.
BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by impairments in emotional and cognitive functions. Emerging studies have shown that cognition and emotion interact by reaching identical brain regions, and the insula is one such region with functional and structural heterogeneity. Although previous literatures have shown the role of insula in MDD，it remains unclear whether the insular subregions show differential change patterns in MDD. METHODS: Using the resting-state fMRI data in a group of 23 drug-free MDDpatients and 34 healthy controls (HCs), we investigated whether the abnormal connectivity patterns of insular sub-regions or any behavioural correlates can be detected in MDD. Further hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify the functional connectivity-clustering patterns of insular sub-regions. RESULTS: Compared with HCs, the MDD exhibited higher connectivities between dorsal agranular insula and inferior parietal lobule and between ventral dysgranular and granular insula and thalamus/habehula, and lower connectivity of hypergranular insula to subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, the three subregions with significant group differences were in three separate functional systems along anterior-to-posteior gradient. The anterior and middle insula showed positive correlation with depressive severity, while the posterior insular was to the contrary. LIMITATIONS: The small and unbalanced sample size, only included moderate and severe depression and the possible inter-individual differences may limit the interpretability. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provided evidences for the MDD-related effects in functional connectivity patterns of insular subregions, and revealed that the subregions might be involved in different neural circuits associated with the contrary impacts on the depressive symptoms.
Authors: Zi Yu Hao; Yuan Zhong; Zi Juan Ma; Hua Zhen Xu; Jing Ya Kong; Zhou Wu; Yun Wu; Jian Li; Xin Lu; Ning Zhang; Chun Wang Journal: BMC Psychiatry Date: 2020-02-17 Impact factor: 3.630