The alteration of cognitive function networks in remitted patients with major depressive disorder: an independent component analysis

Dec 10, 2020Behavioural brain research

Changes in brain networks for thinking in recovered major depression patients

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Abstract

Remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD) patients exhibited lower connectivity in the central executive network (CEN) compared to healthy controls.

Connectivity in the CEN was reduced in rMDD patients, particularly in areas such as the superior and middle frontal gyri.
In contrast, rMDD patients showed increased connectivity in the bilateral insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, key regions involved in cognitive processes.
A positive correlation was found between connectivity of the right inferior parietal lobule in the CEN and cognitive function scores.
Connectivity of the left insula was negatively correlated with depression severity, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
Dysfunctional connectivity patterns in cognitive networks may be linked to residual clinical symptoms despite achieving clinical remission.

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INTRODUCTION: Dysfunctional connectivity of resting-state functional networks has been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), particularly in cognitive function networks including the central executive network (CEN), default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN). Findings from studies examining how aberrant functional connectivity (FC) changed after antidepressant treatment, however, have been inconsistent. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to explore potential mechanisms of altered cognitive function networks during resting-state between remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD) patients and healthy controls (HCs) and furthermore, the relationship between dysfunctional connectivity patterns in rMDD and clinical symptoms.

METHODOLOGY: In this study, 19 HCs and 19 rMDD patients were recruited for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. FC was evaluated with independent component analysis for CEN, DMN and SN. Two sample t tests were conducted to compare differences between rMDD and HCs. A Pearson correlation analysis was also performed to examine the relationship between connectivity of networks and cognitive function scores and clinical symptoms.

RESULTS: Compared to healthy controls, remitted patients showed lower connectivity in CEN, mostly in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and part of the supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Conversely, the bilateral insula, part of the SMG (a key node of the CEN) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) of the DMN showed higher connectivity in rMDD patients. Pearson correlation results demonstrated that connectivity of the right IPL in CEN was positively correlated with cognitive function scores, and connectivity of the left insula was negatively correlated with BDI scores.

CONCLUSIONS: Though rMDD patients reached the standard of clinal remission, unique impairments of FC in cognitive function networks remained. Aberrant FC between cognitive function networks responsible for executive control was observed in rMDD and may be associated with residual clinical symptoms.

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The alteration of cognitive function networks in remitted patients with major depressive disorder: an independent component analysis

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