Increased functional connectivity between the midbrain and frontal cortex following bright light therapy in subthreshold depression: A randomized clinical trial.

Nov 16, 2023The American psychologist

Bright light therapy may increase communication between movement and thinking brain areas in mild depression

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

BLT group displayed significantly decreased Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores from pre- to posttreatment compared to the placebo group.

Bright light therapy (BLT) was administered to 38 participants with subthreshold depression over 8 weeks.
Functional connectivity (FC) changes were measured in brain areas associated with mood regulation, including the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and ventral tegmental area (VTA).
Increased connectivity was observed between the DRN and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and between the left VTA and right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) following BLT.
Altered VTA-SFG connectivity correlated with improvements in HDRS scores in the BLT group.
Baseline connectivity between the DRN and mPFC may predict changes in depressive symptoms during BLT treatment.

AI simplified

The underlying mechanisms of bright light therapy (BLT) in the prevention of individuals with subthreshold depression symptoms are yet to be elucidated. The goal of the study was to assess the correlation between midbrain monoamine-producing nuclei treatment-related functional connectivity (FC) changes and depressive symptom improvements in subthreshold depression. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted between March 2020 and June 2022. A total of 74 young adults with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to receive 8-week BLT (= 38) or placebo (= 36). Depression severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and after treatment. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), ventral tegmental area (VTA), and habenula seed-based whole-brain FC were analyzed. A multivariate regression model examined whether baseline brain FC was associated with changes in scores on HDRS during BLT treatment. BLT group displayed significantly decreased HDRS scores from pre- to posttreatment compared to the placebo group. BLT increased the FC between the DRN and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and between the left VTA and right superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Altered VTA-SFG connectivity was associated with HDRS changes in the BLT group. Moreover, the baseline FC between DRN and mPFC could predict HDRS changes in BLT. These results suggested that BLT improves depressive symptoms and increases midbrain monoamine-producing nuclei and frontal cortex connectivity in subthreshold depression, which raises the possibility that pretreatment FC of DRN-mPFC could be used as a biomarker for improved BLT treatment in depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved). N N

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Increased functional connectivity between the midbrain and frontal cortex following bright light therapy in subthreshold depression: A randomized clinical trial.

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief