The following is a summary of “Brain structural and functional abnormalities in affective network are associated with anxious depression,” published in the July 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Juan et al.
Anxious depression (AD), a common subtype of major depressive disorder (MDD), shows inconsistent and varied brain alterations in neuroimaging studies using single-model methods.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating the pathogenesis of AD with multi-model imaging analyses to achieve more consistent and reliable results.
They recruited 182 patients with MDD and 64 matched HCs. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was employed to assess gray matter volume (GMV) across all subjects. Differences in GMV between patients with AD and non-anxious depression (NAD) were identified as regions of interest (ROIs) for subsequent resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses. Correlation analysis was conducted to explore relationships between clinical symptoms and functional abnormalities in specific brain regions.
The result showed that in the group with AD, a reduction in GMV was noted in the MFG and SFG compared to the group with NAD. Using the MFG and SFG as ROIs, rs-FC analysis showed diminished connectivity between the left SFG and the left temporal pole and between the left SFG and the right MFG in the group with AD relative to the group with NAD. Additionally, the connectivity between the left SFG and the left temporal pole was negatively associated with HAMD-17 scores in the group with AD.
Investigators concluded that combining GMV and rs-FC models highlighted structural and functional disruptions in the affective network as key to AD, with structural impairments potentially driving functional deficits.
Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-05970-2
