Aberrant Structural-Functional Coupling of Large-Scale Brain Networks in Older Women With Subthreshold Depression

Subthreshold depression (SD) is common in the older population, more so in females than males, and can lead to serious physical and mental ill-health. However, the underlying neurobiology remains unclear. This study used multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the topological organization and coupling of the structural and functional brain networks in older women with SD.

We constructed the structural network from diffusion MRI and the functional network from resting-state functional MRI in 50 older women with SD and 52 demographically matched older women healthy controls (HC). We used graph theory analysis to examine the topological properties of functional and structural networks, and structural-functional connectivity (SC-FC) coupling, and their potential relationship to depressive symptoms.

Globally, compared with older women HC, the older women with SD showed lower local efficiency in the structural network but not the functional network. Locally, older women with SD showed altered convergent nodal metrics in the default mode, salience, and sensorimotor network regions in both structural and functional networks. Moreover, SC-FC coupling reduced in older women with SD compared to older women HC. These network metric alterations were correlated with depressive symptoms.

Older women with SD showed alterations in both structural and functional networks, and in their coupling, which throw light on the role of large-scale brain networks in older female SD.