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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Acquisition of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data in the Rat
Published on: August 28, 2021
Resting-state functional changes in the precuneus within first-episode drug-naive patients with MDD
Gaizhi Li1, Kathryn Rossbach2, Aixia Zhang1
1Shanxi Medical University, Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, krzhang_sxmu@vip.163.com.
Background:
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading psychiatric disorder that has a lack of biomarkers for a diagnosis.
Purpose:
The objective of this study was to examine the structural and functional change in the precuneus within first-episode drug naive patients with MDD.
Methods:
Thirty-two first episode drug-naive patients with MDD and thirty healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in this study; the structural MRI and fMRI data were collected using the 3.0 T Trio Siemens System. All the patients were interviewed using the HAMD-17.
Results:
The difference between gray matter volume within the two groups was not observed. Results indicated that the low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF) and regional homogeneity values of the precuneus within first-episode drug-naive patients with MDD were lower than the HCs. In addition, the fALFF value of the MDD was negatively and statistically significantly correlated with the HAMD-17 total score (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
The current study found abnormal activity of the precuneus at resting state in first-episode drug-naive patients with MDD, indicating that activity within the precuneus may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of MDD.
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