Ting Su, Ben Chen, Qin Liu, Yunheng Chen, Mingfeng Yang, Qiang Wang, Huarong Zhou, Xiaomei Zhong, Yuping Ning
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
There are significant sex differences in the prevalence, symptom presentation, treatment response and brain abnormalities of patients with late-life depression (LLD). The functional connectivity of the habenula has been associated with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairments in patients with LLD. However, sex differences in habenular functional connectivity patterns among LLD patients remain unclear. One hundred and fourteen patients with LLD and 75 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the present study. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to analyse the static and dynamic functional connectivity (sFC and dFC) of the habenula. There were significant interactions between diagnosis (LLD vs. HCs) and sex for the dFC of the left habenula with the left insula, precentral gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus and for the right habenula with the right middle temporal gyrus. Pairwise comparisons revealed a trend of HC males > HC females and LLD males < HC males for the connections between the left habenula and the left precentral gyrus, angular gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. Conversely, a trend of HC males < HC females and LLD males > HC males was found for the connections between the right habenula and right middle temporal pole. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction for the sFC of the right habenula with the right fusiform gyrus, with trends of HC males > HC females, LLD males < HC males, and LLD females > HC females. Regression analysis revealed that left habenular-left insular dFC was associated with long-delay memory in females and working memory in males; right habenular-right middle temporal pole dFC was associated with information processing speed in females. Sex moderated the relationships between cognitive function (global cognition, delay-recalled memory and working memory) and dFC between the left habenula and left insula. In conclusions, this study revealed sex-specific alterations in the functional connectivity patterns of the habenula in LLD patients, and these alterations were associated with various cognitive functions in a sex-specific manner. These findings provide a neurobiological basis for understanding sex differences in LLD patients.
晚年抑郁症（LLD）患者在患病率、症状表现、治疗反应和大脑异常方面存在明显的性别差异。在晚期抑郁症患者中，脑后叶的功能连接与抑郁症状和认知障碍有关。然而，晚期抑郁症患者的脑岛功能连接模式的性别差异仍不清楚。本研究共纳入了114名LLD患者和75名健康对照组（HCs）。本研究采用静息态功能磁共振成像技术分析了哈贝神经节的静态和动态功能连通性（sFC和dFC）。在诊断（LLD vs. HCs）和性别之间，左侧螺旋体与左侧岛叶、中央前回、角回和额叶中回的dFC以及右侧螺旋体与右侧颞中回的dFC存在明显的交互作用。配对比较显示，在左侧哈文脑与左侧中脑前回、角回和额叶中回的连接方面，HC 男性> HC 女性，LLD 男性< HC 男性。相反，在右侧帽状神经元与右侧中颞极之间的连接方面，发现了HC男性HC男性的趋势。此外，右侧哈文脑与右侧蝶状回的 sFC 存在显著的交互作用，其趋势为：HC 男性 > HC 女性，LLD 男性 < HC 男性，LLD 女性 > HC 女性。回归分析表明，左侧哈贝脑-左侧岛叶dFC与女性的长延时记忆和男性的工作记忆相关；右侧哈贝脑-右侧中颞极dFC与女性的信息处理速度相关。性别调节了认知功能（整体认知、延迟调用记忆和工作记忆）与左侧脑后叶和左侧脑岛之间的dFC之间的关系。总之，本研究揭示了LLD患者的哈文脑功能连接模式的性别特异性改变，这些改变以性别特异性的方式与各种认知功能相关联。这些发现为理解 LLD 患者的性别差异提供了神经生物学基础。
期刊介绍：
Psychiatry has suffered tremendously by the limited translational pipeline. Nobel laureate Julius Axelrod''s discovery in 1961 of monoamine reuptake by pre-synaptic neurons still forms the basis of contemporary antidepressant treatment. There is a grievous gap between the explosion of knowledge in neuroscience and conceptually novel treatments for our patients. Translational Psychiatry bridges this gap by fostering and highlighting the pathway from discovery to clinical applications, healthcare and global health. We view translation broadly as the full spectrum of work that marks the pathway from discovery to global health, inclusive. The steps of translation that are within the scope of Translational Psychiatry include (i) fundamental discovery, (ii) bench to bedside, (iii) bedside to clinical applications (clinical trials), (iv) translation to policy and health care guidelines, (v) assessment of health policy and usage, and (vi) global health. All areas of medical research, including — but not restricted to — molecular biology, genetics, pharmacology, imaging and epidemiology are welcome as they contribute to enhance the field of translational psychiatry.
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