The thalamus is the causal hub of intervention in patients with major depressive disorder: Evidence from the Granger causality analysis

Yang, Chengxiao; Xiao, Kunchen; Ao, Yujia; Cui, Qian; Jing, Xiujuan; Wang, Yifeng

doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103295

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…Nevertheless, these two studies suggest that the connection between the dorsomedial thalamus and the habenula could be relevant to mood disorders. This is in line with ample evidence hinting at the importance of the thalamus in MDD (Brown, et al, 2017;Osoba et al, 2013;Zhang, Zhang, Ai et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2023). The thalamus is an important hub situated at the core of the limbic-cortical-striatal-pallidal-thalamic (LCSPT) circuit, which has been hypothesized to play a role in the etiology of MDD (Price & Drevets., 2010;Shen et al, 2019;Swerdlow & Koob., 1987).…”

Section: Is the Volume Of The Habenula Altered In Human Depression?supporting

confidence: 73%

The Habenula in Mood Disorders: A Scoping Review of Human Studies

Fortin,

Lafleur,

Parisien

et al. 2024

Preprint

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In animal models, the habenula has been identified as a key structure involved in depression. Thanks to recent technological advancements, a burgeoning body of work has also investigated the habenula in the context of human mood disorders. This scoping review aims to synthesize findings from human studies that pertain to the habenula and its relationship with mood disorders. The review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. The literature search was performed with PubMed and yielded 93 articles, of which 50 articles were included in the review. We found that the evidence for baseline habenular hyperactivity in human depression is mixed. As for findings from resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies, they were mainly inconsistent across studies. Moreover, we found no evidence indicating that mood disorders are linked to changes in the volume of the habenula. In order to enhance the replicability of findings, given the small size of the habenula, higher image resolution and larger samples are recommended for future studies.

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Section: Is the Volume Of The Habenula Altered In Human Depression?supporting

confidence: 73%

The Habenula in Mood Disorders: A Scoping Review of Human Studies

Fortin,

Lafleur,

Parisien

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Importantly, thalamocortical interactions appear to play a critical role in the pathology of depression. A recent review demonstrated converging evidence of enhanced effective connections from the thalamus to various cortical regions, and reduced effective connections from other regions to the thalamus, suggesting that the thalamus is the key casual hub region for MDD [136]. Moreover, a study utilizing machine learning and advanced deep learning methods to distinguish MDD patients and healthy individuals in large resting-state fMRI datasets, identified thalamocortical hyperconnectivity as a specialized and critical neurophysiological signature in MDD [137].…”

Section: Thalamocortical Circuits Possibly Account For Abnormal Arous...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological Underpinnings of Hyperarousal in Depression: A Comprehensive Review

Xie,

Huang,

Cai

et al. 2024

Brain Sciences

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Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit an abnormal physiological arousal pattern known as hyperarousal, which may contribute to their depressive symptoms. However, the neurobiological mechanisms linking this abnormal arousal to depressive symptoms are not yet fully understood. In this review, we summarize the physiological and neural features of arousal, and review the literature indicating abnormal arousal in depressed patients. Evidence suggests that a hyperarousal state in depression is characterized by abnormalities in sleep behavior, physiological (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance, pupil diameter) and electroencephalography (EEG) features, and altered activity in subcortical (e.g., hypothalamus and locus coeruleus) and cortical regions. While recent studies highlight the importance of subcortical–cortical interactions in arousal, few have explored the relationship between subcortical–cortical interactions and hyperarousal in depressed patients. This gap limits our understanding of the neural mechanism through which hyperarousal affects depressive symptoms, which involves various cognitive processes and the cerebral cortex. Based on the current literature, we propose that the hyperconnectivity in the thalamocortical circuit may contribute to both the hyperarousal pattern and depressive symptoms. Future research should investigate the relationship between thalamocortical connections and abnormal arousal in depression, and explore its implications for non-invasive treatments for depression.

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“…Fourth, our study focused on specific imaging modalities and abnormal brain changes among individuals with subthreshold depression, and these conclusions may not generalize to other samples like MDD. A meta‐analysis concentrating on the abnormal brain connections reported the thalamus as the causal hub of intervention in patients with major depressive disorder (Yang et al, 2023). Finally, as previously discussed, demographic characteristics such as age (adolescents, adults or the elderly), inclusion criteria or measures of StD, and depression severity may act as potential confounding factors.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and functional brain alterations in subthreshold depression: A multimodal coordinate‐based meta‐analysis

Li,

Kuang,

Liu

et al. 2024

Human Brain Mapping

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Imaging studies of subthreshold depression (StD) have reported structural and functional abnormalities in a variety of spatially diverse brain regions. However, there is no consensus among different studies. In the present study, we applied a multimodal meta‐analytic approach, the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE), to test the hypothesis that StD exhibits spatially convergent structural and functional brain abnormalities compared to healthy controls. A total of 31 articles with 25 experiments were included, collectively representing 1001 subjects with StD. We found consistent differences between StD and healthy controls mainly in the left insula across studies with various neuroimaging methods. Further exploratory analyses found structural atrophy and decreased functional activities in the right pallidum and thalamus in StD, and abnormal spontaneous activity converged to the middle frontal gyrus. Coordinate‐based meta‐analysis found spatially convergent structural and functional impairments in StD. These findings provide novel insights for understanding the neural underpinnings of subthreshold depression and enlighten the potential targets for its early screening and therapeutic interventions in the future.

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The thalamus is the causal hub of intervention in patients with major depressive disorder: Evidence from the Granger causality analysis

Cited by 16 publications

References 120 publications

The Habenula in Mood Disorders: A Scoping Review of Human Studies

The Habenula in Mood Disorders: A Scoping Review of Human Studies

Neurobiological Underpinnings of Hyperarousal in Depression: A Comprehensive Review

Structural and functional brain alterations in subthreshold depression: A multimodal coordinate‐based meta‐analysis

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