Postpartum depression and major depressive disorder: the same or not? Evidence from resting-state functional MRI

Although postpartum depression (PPD) and non-peripartum major depressive disorder (MDD) occurring within and outside the postpartum period share many clinical characteristics, whether PPD and MDD are the same or not remains controversial.

The current study was devoted to identify the shared and different neural circuits between PPD and MDD by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 77 participants (22 first-episodic drug-naïve MDD, 26 drug-naïve PPD, and 29 healthy controls (HC)).

Both the PPD and MDD groups exhibited higher fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) in left temporal pole relative to the HC group; the MDD group showed specifically increased degree centrality in the right cerebellum while PPD showed specifically decreased fALFF in the left supplementary motor area and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG_L), and specifically decreased functional connectivities between pMTG and precuneus and between left subgeneual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC_L) and right sgACC. Moreover, sgACC and left thalamus showed abnormal regional homogeneity of functional activities between any pair of HC, MDD, and PPD.

These results provide initial evidence that PPD and MDD have common and distinct neural circuits, which may facilitate understanding the neurophysiological basis and precision treatment for PPD.