Thalamocortical connectivity in major depressive disorder

Brown, E. B.; Clark, Darren L.; Hassel, Stefanie; MacQueen, Glenda; Ramasubbu, Rajamannar

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2017.04.004

Cited by 73 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Whereas the association between depressive and anxiety symptoms has frequently been observed, 42 fewer studies have analyzed the impact of combined symptoms on neural mechanisms 42 and FC. 43,44 We did not include Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria diagnostic for depression and anxiety, and yet the presence of these disorders' symptoms yielded significant disruptions on the higher brain networks; there was a more widespread pattern of alterations involving DMN, salience, LECN, and visuospatial/dorsal attention networks in the POS (anxietydepression) group, in accordance with studies of GGEs [45][46][47][48] and depression, 49,50 one study of anxiety, 51 and another of both comorbidities. 44 Interestingly, we identified alterations in the visuospatial network, supporting evidence from a previous study (with anxiety and depression comorbidities) that revealed altered connectivity in intracalcarine cortex along with other areas.…”

Section: Functional Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 71%

Anxiety and depression symptoms disrupt resting state connectivity in patients with genetic generalized epilepsies

et al. 2019

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Summary Objective To analyze the lifetime trajectories in genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs) and investigate the impact of symptoms of anxiety and depression on resting state functional connectivity (FC). Methods Seventy‐four GGE patients were classified according to the pharmacological response as seizure‐free (12 patients), pharmacoresistant (PhR; 14 patients), and fluctuating (FL; 48 patients). Fifty‐four subjects completed both the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and 38 also underwent 3‐T resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. These 38 patients were subdivided into a positive group (13 patients with concurrent symptoms of depression and anxiety) and a negative group (21 asymptomatic patients and four with mild anxiety or depression symptoms). For FC analysis of resting state networks, we matched 38 healthy asymptomatic volunteers and used the UF2C toolbox running on MATLAB2017/SPM12. Results The PhR group presented shorter duration of epilepsy (P = 0.016) and follow‐up (P < 0.001) compared to the FL group. The PhR group showed higher levels (median = 20) on the BAI and BDI. Myoclonic seizures were the most difficult to control, as 50% of subjects persisted with them at last appointment, compared to generalized tonic–clonic seizures and absence seizures (<40%). Patients with concurrent anxiety and depression symptoms were 7.7 times more likely to exhibit pharmacoresistant seizures, although an increase of 1 year of epilepsy duration was associated with a decrease in the odds of presenting pharmacoresistance by a factor of 0.9. Overall, FC was altered between default mode network (DMN) and visuospatial/dorsal attention. However, only the positive group displayed abnormal FC between DMN and left executive control network, and between salience and visuospatial/dorsal attention. Significance Our findings may help clinicians to have a better understanding of GGE clinical course and increase attention to the potential relationship of psychopathologies and brain connectivity.

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Section: Functional Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 71%

Anxiety and depression symptoms disrupt resting state connectivity in patients with genetic generalized epilepsies

et al. 2019

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“…The rs-FC between the thalamus and the whole brain has been previously examined, and there were relatively consistent findings. MDD subjects had altered thalamocortical connectivity characterized by an intricate pattern in the region that was associated with clinical symptoms; indeed, one of them indicated the thalamus is hyper-connected with SI [ 47 – 50 ]. The importance of the SI has been gradually discovered in schizophrenia patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional connectivity between the thalamus and the primary somatosensory cortex in major depressive disorder: a resting-state fMRI study

et al. 2018

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BackgroundStudies have confirmed that the thalamus and the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) are associated with cognitive function. These two brain regions are closely related in structure and function. The interactions between SI and the thalamus are of crucial significance for the cognitive process. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have significant cognitive impairment. Based on these observations, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to investigate whether there is an abnormality in the SI-thalamic functional connection in MDD. Furthermore, we explored the clinical symptoms related to this abnormality.MethodsWe included 31 patients with first-episode major depressive disorder and 28 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls (HC). The SI-thalamic functional connectivity was compared between the MDD and HC groups. The correlation analyses were performed between areas with abnormal connectivity and clinical characteristics.ResultsCompared with healthy subjects, the MDD patients had enhanced functional connectivity between the thalamus and SI (p < 0.05, corrected). Brain areas with significantly different levels of connectivity had a negative correlation with the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status total score (r = − 0.383, p = 0.033), delayed memory score (r = − 0.376, p = 0.037) and two-digit continuous operation test score (r = − 0.369, p = 0.041) in MDD patients.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate that SI-thalamic functional connectivity is abnormal and associated with the core clinical symptoms in MDD. The SI-thalamic functional connectivity functions as a neurobiological feature and potential biomarker for MDD.

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“…Some MRI findings also claimed that the volume of the putamen was altered in depression (Lu et al, 2016 ), which is in line with our results. With respect to the thalamus, it is thought to be implicated in the pathophysiology of MDD and is currently drawing sustained attention (Kong et al, 2013 ; Brown et al, 2017 ). Recent research has documented that abnormal thalamocortical connectivity, specifically abnormal thalamo-temporal and thalamo-somatosensory connectivity, was found in MDD (Brown et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With respect to the thalamus, it is thought to be implicated in the pathophysiology of MDD and is currently drawing sustained attention (Kong et al, 2013 ; Brown et al, 2017 ). Recent research has documented that abnormal thalamocortical connectivity, specifically abnormal thalamo-temporal and thalamo-somatosensory connectivity, was found in MDD (Brown et al, 2017 ). A post-mortem study has demonstrated that patients with major depression had more neurons in the thalamic nuclei compared with control samples (Young et al, 2004 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Reveals an Association between Brain Iron Load and Depression Severity

Yao

Zeng

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Previous studies have detected abnormal serum ferritin levels in patients with depression; however, the results have been inconsistent. This study used quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) for the first time to examine brain iron concentration in depressed patients and evaluated whether it is related to severity. We included three groups of age- and gender-matched participants: 30 patients with mild-moderate depression (MD), 14 patients with major depression disorder (MDD) and 20 control subjects. All participants underwent MR scans with a 3D gradient-echo sequence reconstructing for QSM and performed the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) test. In MDD, the susceptibility value in the bilateral putamen was significantly increased compared with MD or control subjects. In addition, a significant difference was also observed in the left thalamus in MDD patients compared with controls. However, the susceptibility values did not differ between MD patients and controls. The susceptibility values positively correlated with the severity of depression as indicated by the HDRS scores. Our results provide evidence that brain iron deposition may be associated with depression and may even be a biomarker for investigating the pathophysiological mechanism of depression.

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Thalamocortical connectivity in major depressive disorder

Cited by 73 publications

References 51 publications

Anxiety and depression symptoms disrupt resting state connectivity in patients with genetic generalized epilepsies

Anxiety and depression symptoms disrupt resting state connectivity in patients with genetic generalized epilepsies

Functional connectivity between the thalamus and the primary somatosensory cortex in major depressive disorder: a resting-state fMRI study

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Reveals an Association between Brain Iron Load and Depression Severity

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