Attenuated intrinsic connectivity within cognitive control network among individuals with remitted depression: Temporal stability and association with negative cognitive styles

Abstract

Many individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience cognitive dysfunction including impaired cognitive control and negative cognitive styles. Functional connectivity MRI studies of individuals with current MDD have documented altered resting-state connectivity within the default-mode network and across networks. However, no studies to date have evaluated the extent to which impaired connectivity within the cognitive control network (CCN) may be present in remitted MDD (rMDD), nor have studies examined the temporal stability of such attenuation over time. This represents a major gap in understanding stable, trait-like depression risk phenotypes. In the present study, resting-state functional connectivity data were collected from 52 unmedicated young adults with rMDD and 47 demographically-matched healthy controls, using three bilateral seeds in the CCN (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Mean connectivity within the entire CCN was attenuated among individuals with rMDD, was stable and reliable over time, and was most pronounced from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right inferior parietal lobule to the three bilateral CCN seeds. Attenuated connectivity in rMDD appeared to be specific to the CCN as opposed to representing attenuated within-network coherence in other networks (e.g., default-mode, salience). In addition, attenuated connectivity within the CCN mediated relationships between rMDD status and cognitive risk factors for depression, including ruminative brooding, pessimistic attributional style, and negative automatic thoughts. Given that these cognitive markers are known predictors of relapse, these results suggest that attenuated connectivity within the CCN could represent a biomarker for trait phenotypes of depression risk.

Developmental changes in resting-state functional networks among individuals with and without internalizing psychopathologies

“…We included bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex nodes within the middle frontal gyrus (+/−45 29 32), inferior parietal lobule (+/−52 −50 49), and dorsal anterior cingulate (+/−5 22, 47) to use as seeds in the connectivity analysis (Yeo et al, 2011). For each of these three bilateral seeds, we ran cross-correlation time series analyses as described above (and similar to Stange et al, 2017). Similar procedures were used for three bilateral seeds for the SEN [amygdala (+/−23 −5 −19; Jacobs et al, 2014), ventral striatum inferior (+/−9 9 −8; diMartino et al, 2008), anterior insula (+/−33 12 −6; Deen et al, 2011)] and for the DMN [posterior cingulate (+/−5 −49 25), dorsal medial cingulate (+/−7 46 −2), temporoparietal junction (+/−49 −63 45)] (Yeo et al, 2011).…”

“…Subsets of these samples have been reported in prior work, including from MH091811 awarded to Langenecker (Bessette et al, 2018;Bhaumik et al, 2017;DelDonno et al, 2017;Jacobs et al, 2014Jacobs et al, , 2016Jenkins et al, 2017;Rao et al, 2016;Stange et al, 2017), MH086517 awarded to Monk and Phan (Hamm et al, 2014;Wu et al, 2016), UIC CCTS UL1TR000050, Mind and Life Foundation, and Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Fellowship awarded to Jacobs Peters et al, 2016). Data is also present from MH101487 (awarded to Langenecker).…”

“…Investigations of CCN and SEN connectivity across the lifespan have been more mixed among individuals with anxiety and depression (Kaiser et al, 2015; Mulders et al, 2015), with evidence for both decreased (Bluhm et al, 2009; Cullen et al, 2009; Sylvester et al, 2012; Veer et al, 2010) and increased (Davey, Harrison, Yücel, & Allen, 2012; Sheline, Price, Yan, & Mintun, 2010; Sylvester et al, 2012) connectivity within these networks among adolescent and adult populations. We have previously shown that within the CCN, adolescents (ages 12–17) with a history of depression exhibit increased connectivity (Peters, Burkhouse, Feldhaus, Langenecker, & Jacobs, 2016), whereas the opposite pattern is found among remitted depressed young adults ranging in age from 18 to 23 (Stange et al, 2017). Moreover, when examining cross-network connectivity patterns, remitted depressed adolescents exhibited increased connectivity between the SEN and DMN (Peters et al, 2016), while young adults in remission from MDD exhibited stable and reliable hyperconnectivities of the DMN and SEN with the CCN (Bessette et al, 2018; Jacobs et al, 2014).…”

A brain network model for depression: From symptom understanding to disease intervention

“…Vasic et al observed increased functional connectivity in the left DLPFC during a working memory task in MDD. However, Stange et al reported attenuated CCN connectivity which was stable over time in remitted MDD. Aizenstein et al reported reduced DLPFC‐dACC functional connectivity on an executive‐control task in patients with late‐life depression (LLD).…”

Integrated cross-network connectivity of amygdala, insula, and subgenual cingulate associated with facial emotion perception in healthy controls and remitted major depressive disorder

“…In contrast, connectivity during a facial emotion perception task, even when task events are removed, is specific to performance of an emotion perception task. Finally, although we have previously demonstrated that within-network SEN connectivity did not differ by group (Stange et al, 2017, Supplement) and there were no significant group differences in performance in the present study, to ensure that there were no differential associations between performance and connectivity by group, we conducted moderation analyses on the extracted beta values from the significant clusters in Tables 1 and 2. These results are reported in the Supplement.…”