MDD brain network analysis based on EEG functional connectivity and graph theory

Existing studies have shown that the brain network of major depression disorder (MDD) has abnormal topologies. However, constructing reliable MDD brain networks is still an open problem.

This paper proposed a reliable MDD brain network construction method. First, seven connectivity methods are used to calculate the correlation between channels and obtain the functional connectivity matrix. Then, the matrix is binarized using four binarization methods to obtain the EEG brain network. Besides, we proposed an improved binarization method based on the criterion of maximizing differences between groups: the adaptive threshold (AT) method. The AT can automatically set the optimal binarization threshold and overcome the artificial influence of traditional methods. After that, several network metrics are extracted from the brain network to analyze inter-group differences. Finally, we used statistical analysis and Fscore values to compare the performance of different methods and establish the most reliable method for brain network construction.

In theta, alpha, and total frequency bands, the clustering coefficient, global efficiency, local efficiency, and degree of the MDD brain network decrease, and the path length of the MDD brain network increases.

The results show that AT outperforms the existing binarization methods. Compared with other methods, the brain network construction method based on phase-locked value (PLV) and AT has better reliability.

MDD has brain dysfunction, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes.