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Abnormal ventral tegmental area-anterior cingulate cortex connectivity in Parkinson's disease with depression
Luqing Wei1, Xiao Hu2, Yonggui Yuan3
1Key Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
Behavioural Brain Research
|March 14, 2018
Summary
Parkinson's disease (PD) with depression shows altered brain connectivity. Depressed PD patients exhibit abnormal functional connections in the mesocorticolimbic system, linked to depressive symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) neuropathology involves dopaminergic system degeneration.
- Depression in PD is linked to dopamine changes but circuit-level alterations are understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate circuit-level abnormalities in PD with depression using resting-state fMRI.
- Examine functional connectivity of midbrain dopaminergic regions (substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area).
Main Methods:
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- Seed-based functional connectivity analysis focusing on substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area (VTA).
- Comparison between depressed PD (DPD), non-depressed PD (NDPD), and healthy controls (HC).
Main Results:
- DPD patients showed increased VTA-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) connectivity compared to HC and NDPD.
- Both DPD and NDPD patients exhibited increased SN-sensorimotor cortex connectivity versus HC.
- VTA-ACC connectivity correlated with depression severity in PD patients.
Conclusions:
- Dysfunctional mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic neurotransmission is associated with depression in PD.
- Altered nigrostriatal circuitry may underlie motor symptoms in PD.
- Resting-state functional connectivity of midbrain dopaminergic nuclei offers potential biomarkers for PD with depression.