Diagnostically distinct resting state fMRI energy distributions: A subject-specific maximum entropy modeling study

Existing neuroimaging studies of psychotic and mood disorders have reported brain activation differences (first-order properties) and altered pairwise correlation-based functional connectivity (second-order properties). However, both approaches have certain limitations that can be overcome by integrating them in a pairwise maximum entropy model (MEM) that better represents a comprehensive picture of fMRI signal patterns and provides a system-wide summary measure called energy. This study examines the applicability of individual-level MEM for psychiatry and identifies image-derived model coefficients related to model parameters.

MEMs are fit to resting state fMRI data from each individual with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depression (n=132) and demographically matched healthy controls (n=132) from the UK Biobank to different subsets of the default mode network (DMN) regions.

The model satisfactorily explained observed brain energy state occurrence probabilities across all participants, and model parameters were significantly correlated with image-derived coefficients for all groups. Within clinical groups, averaged energy level distributions were higher in schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder but lower in bipolar disorder compared to controls for both bilateral and unilateral DMN. Major depression energy distributions were higher compared to controls only in the right hemisphere DMN.

Diagnostically distinct energy states suggest that probability distributions of temporal changes in synchronously active nodes may underlie each diagnostic entity. Subject-specific MEMs allow for factoring in the individual variations compared to traditional group-level inferences, offering an improved measure of biologically meaningful correlates of brain activity that may have potential clinical utility.