A significant increase in SC-FC coupling in the default mode network was observed in 41 individuals compared to healthy controls.
Cortisol secretion was significantly higher in individuals with subthreshold depression, indicating a heightened stress response.
Positive associations were found between default mode network coupling and cortisol levels, suggesting a link between brain network activity and stress hormone levels.
Combining SC-FC coupling and cortisol measurements improved the accuracy for discriminating subthreshold depression, achieving a classification accuracy of 85.71%.
Alterations in global efficiency were noted in both the default mode network and frontoparietal control network in individuals with subthreshold depression.
Simplified
Accumulating studies have highlighted the links between stress-related networks and the axis for emotion regulation and proved the mapping associations between altered structural and functional networks (called SC-FC coupling) in depression. However, the signatures of SC-FC coupling in (StD) individuals and their relationships with HPA axis reactivity, as well as the predictive power of these combinations for discriminating StD, remain unclear. This cross-sectional study enrolled 160 adults, including 117 StD and 43 healthy controls (HC). The propensity score matching method was applied for match-pair analysis between StD and HC. Herein, we measured depression level, cortisol level, and brain imaging outcomes. The functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging methods were employed to acquire the network SC-FC couplings and topological attributes. Support vector machine models were employed to discriminate StD from HC. Herein, 43 pairs were matched, but four participants were excluded due to over-threshold head motion, leaving 41 participants in each group. General linear model results revealed a significant SC-FC coupling increase in the default mode network (DMN) and decrements of global efficiency in DMN and frontoparietal control network (P < 0.05), while the cortisol secretion significantly increased (P < 0.001) in StD individuals. Partial correlation analysis revealed positive associations between DMN coupling and cortisol values (r = 0.298, P = 0.033), and their combination provided greater power for discriminating StD than another single model, with the classification accuracy and AUC value up to 85.71% and 0.894, respectively. In summary, this study clarified the relationship between stress-related network SC-FC coupling and cortisol secretion in influencing depressive symptoms, whose combination would contribute to discriminating subthreshold depressive states in the future.
Key numbers
2.217
Increase in DMN SC-FC Coupling
GLM analysis shows significant difference in DMN SC-FC coupling between and HC groups.
0.001
Cortisol Level Increase
Cortisol secretion significantly increased in individuals compared to healthy controls.
85.71%
Classification Accuracy
Classification accuracy achieved using combined models of DMN SC-FC coupling and cortisol levels.
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