Correlation between cognitive deficits and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex functional connectivity in first-episode...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Depression is frequently associated with cognitive impairments, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not fully understood.
• Abnormalities in brain network connectivity are a potential explanation for these cognitive deficits in major depressive disorder (MDD).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alterations in brain functional connectivity (FC) in patients with first-episode MDD.
• To explore the relationship between these FC changes and cognitive deficits in MDD.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 37 first-episode MDD patients and 53 healthy controls (HC).
• Utilized resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) with seed-based analysis focusing on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).
• Correlated FC measures with clinical and neurocognitive scores using bias correlation analysis.

Main Results:

• MDD patients exhibited altered FC of the right DLPFC with multiple brain regions, including the temporal gyrus, cuneus, and frontal gyrus.
• Observed increased FC in the left thalamus and reduced FC between the left superior occipital gyrus and the DLPFC seed region.
• Found associations between increased FC and disease severity (right precentral gyrus) and social cognitive dysfunction (right angular gyrus).

Conclusions:

• Altered functional connectivity of the DLPFC is evident in early-stage MDD and correlates with cognitive function.
• Functional connectivity patterns show potential as diagnostic biomarkers for MDD.