Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging最新文献

Background: Depression is consistently linked to changes in the hypothalamus, HPA axis, and limbic system, though the specific substructures involved remain unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between depression and the volumes of specific nuclei within these brain regions. Understanding these connections could provide deeper insights into the biological mechanisms underlying depression.

Methods: Seventy-three healthy individuals and 39 patients with depression were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory or Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. All participants underwent 3.0T MRI, and the volumes of subnuclei in the hypothalamus and limbic system were measured.

Results: The results revealed increased volumes in both the inferior tubular areas of the hypothalamus and the left hypothalamus in the patient group with depression. Moreover, the left infTub volume initially increased during the first three years of depression, followed by a decrease, suggesting distinct structural changes between early and chronic stages of the illness.

Conclusions: Alterations in the left inferior tubular area volume suggest a connection between the hypothalamus and the chronicity of depressive symptoms. Further exploration of specific nuclei in the hypothalamus promises deeper insights into depression's biological mechanisms.

Although firefighters frequently encounter various traumatic incidents, few develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this pilot study, we aimed to examine trauma-specific neurobiological alterations in firefighters with PTSD, distinguishing these characteristics from those of trauma-exposed controls. Twenty-two firefighters (11 firefighters with PTSD and 11 trauma-exposed controls) and 25 trauma non-exposed controls completed psychiatric questionnaires and functional magnetic resonance imaging while engaging in a trauma-specific emotional counting Stroop task for firefighters. In response to general negative words, the firefighter group exhibited increased brain activity in the left and right superior parietal lobes, left cingulate gyrus, and right medial frontal gyrus compared to the trauma non-exposed control group. In response to trauma-related words, the firefighter group displayed increased brain activity in the left and right superior parietal lobes, left and right middle temporal gyri, and precuneus compared to the trauma non-exposed control group. In response to general negative words, firefighters with PTSD exhibited increased brain activity in the right and left middle temporal gyri compared to trauma-exposed controls. In response to trauma-related words, firefighters with PTSD displayed decreased brain activity in the right and left middle frontal gyri compared to trauma-exposed controls. Among firefighters with PTSD, brain activity in the left middle frontal gyrus in response to trauma-related words negatively correlated with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale total score. Collectively, firefighters with PTSD demonstrate reduced brain activation within the middle frontal gyrus in response to trauma-related words, indicating a compromised top-down control mechanism.

Background and aims: Glutamate plays a crucial role in cognition, learning, and mood regulation, with studies suggesting glutamatergic dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia. This study explored glutamate levels in the occipital cortex (OCC) and cognitive function in ultra-treatment resistant schizophrenia (uTRS) compared to healthy controls.

Methods: Fifteen uTRS participants and 19 healthy controls underwent 3T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) to measure glutamate levels in the OCC. Cognitive performance was assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB).

Results: No significant differences in OCC glutamate levels were found between uTRS participants and healthy controls. uTRS participants performed significantly worse on the MCCB compared to healthy controls, with a large effect size (η² = 0.72). Although no significant direct relationships were observed between Glu levels and cognitive performance, significant regression models for certain cognitive domains suggest a modest association between Glu levels and cognitive outcomes.

Conclusion: Participants with uTRS exhibited significant cognitive deficits compared to healthy controls, though no significant differences in OCC Glu levels were found. While no clear linear or quadratic relationships emerged, Glu explained a small portion of the variance in cognitive performance, indicating a more complex role for Glu in cognition that warrants further investigation.

Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) measures have enjoyed significant success in discovering the neuropathological characteristics of schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, it is unknown whether and how the spatial and temporal coupling relationships across rsFC measures would be altered in these psychiatric disorders. Here, resting-state fMRI data were obtained from a transdiagnostic sample of healthy controls (HC) and individuals with SZ, BD, and ADHD. We used Kendall's W to compute volume-wise and voxel-wise concordance across rsFC measures, followed by group comparisons. In terms of the spatial coupling, both SZ and BD individuals exhibited decreased volume-wise concordance compared with HC. Regarding the temporal coupling, SZ individuals showed decreased voxel-wise concordance in the right lateral occipital cortex relative to HC. BD individuals exhibited decreased voxel-wise concordance in the bilateral basal forebrain and bilateral superior/middle temporal gyrus compared to HC. Additionally, correlation analyses demonstrated positive associations of voxel-wise concordance in the left basal forebrain with negative symptoms including alogia and affective flattening in pooled SZ and BD individuals. Our findings of distinct patterns of spatial and temporal decoupling across rsFC measures among SZ, BD, and ADHD may provide unique insights into the neuropathological mechanisms of these psychiatric disorders.

Behavior change often requires overcoming discomfort or difficult emotions. Emotional dysregulation associated with anxiety or depression may prevent behavior change initiation among people managing chronic illness. Mindfulness training may catalyze chronic disease self-management by reducing experiential avoidance of aversive experiences that act as barriers to change initiation. Using a fMRI evoked pain task, we examined the effects of 8 weeks of Mindfulness Training for Primary Care (MTPC) on brain response to the anticipation of a noxious event (i.e., pain) among patients with anxiety and/or depression. We modeled the association between post-MTPC changes in brain response to pain anticipation and post-MTPC Action Plan Initiation (API), a measure of successful initiation of health behavior change. Greater post-MTPC increase in response to pain anticipation in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was associated with higher levels of API (r=0.77, p<0.001). This increase in dmPFC response correlated with post-MTPC self-reported increase in emotion regulation skills related to goal-directed behaviors (r=-0.52, p=0.002). This suggests that mindfulness training increases the capacity to maintain goal-directed behavior in the face of aversive experiences by strengthening neural mechanisms of emotion- and self-regulation supporting successful health behavior change initiation in patients struggling with anxiety and/or depression.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by persistent sadness and loss of interest. Recent evidence suggested that abnormal functional connectivity (FC) may be linked to the development of MDD, and gender differences existed in FC patterns. In this study, we utilized resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) data from 41 healthy participants to identify FC patterns that correlate with levels of rumination in both genders. A 2-sample t-test showed no gender differences in rumination levels. A functional connectivity density (FCD) analysis was then conducted using DPABI. It was revealed that in males, the FCD of the postcentral gyrus (PCG) was negatively correlated with the levels of rumination and brooding (Pearson's r > 0.25), while not with reflection. No FCD in females was related to rumination or its subtypes. Further FC analysis revealed that the FC between the PCG and several regions, predominantly from the default mode network (DMN), were negatively correlated with rumination levels (Pearson's r > 0.25). This link was assumed to be a risk factor for rumination and MDD in males. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the PCG-DMN connectivity is a potential risk factor for MDD in males, while no FC risk factors were found in females.

The left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) is thought to be involved in the pathophysiology and core symptoms of schizophrenia, although its structural connectivity has not yet been systematically investigated. Here, we aimed to evaluate its white matter (WM) connectivity with Broca's area, the thalamus, and the right pSTG. Eighty-three patients with schizophrenia and 141 healthy controls underwent diffusion-weighted imaging and T1-weighted three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging. Probabilistic tractography was performed from the left pSTG to the Broca area, the left thalamus, and the right pSTG. Group comparison of WM fractional anisotropy (FA) in these pathways, as well as its correlations with the pSTG volume and clinical characteristics in the patient group, were examined. Patients showed significantly lower FA in the left pSTG-Broca and left-right pSTG pathways, but not in the left pSTG-thalamus pathway. Patients also revealed a trend toward a smaller left pSTG volume. Significant negative correlations were found in patients between FA in the left-right pSTG pathway and the left pSTG volume, and between FA in the left pSTG-Broca pathway and positive symptom severity. The present results suggest fiber-specific alterations in structural connectivity linked to the left pSTG, possibly supporting the "inner speech" and "interhemispheric disconnection" hypotheses of schizophrenia.

Background: Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) with psychotic symptoms may predict more severe impairment in social functioning, but the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in subcortical structural volume in PBD with and without psychotic symptoms.

Methods: We recruited 24 psychotic PBD (P-PBD) patients, 24 non-psychotic PBD (NP-PBD) patients, and 18 healthy controls (HCs). All participants underwent scanning with a 3.0 T Siemens Trio scanner. The FreeSurfer 7.4.0 software was employed to calculate the volume of each subcortical structure. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to identify brain regions with significant volume differences among the three groups, and then the inter-group comparisons were calculated. Partial correlation analyses were conducted to identify relationships between subcortical structural volumes and clinical features. Finally, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was employed to verify the capacity to distinguish between P-PBD and NP-PBD, P-PBD and HCs, and NP-PBD and HCs.

Results: ANCOVA revealed significant differences in the volumes of bilateral lateral ventricles, third ventricle, left thalamus, and right pallidum among three groups. Compared with HC, the third ventricle volume was increased in both groups of PBD patients, whereas the left thalamus and right pallidum volumes were decreased, and the bilateral lateral ventricles were enlarged in P-PBD patients. In contrast, only the third ventricle showed further enlargement in the group of P-PBD patients compared with NP-PBD patients. Partial correlation analyses revealed that episode times were associated with the third ventricle volume in P-PBD patients. Furthermore, ROC analyses indicated that volume in the left lateral ventricle exhibited the greatest capacity to distinguish between the P-PBD and NP-PBD, and the third ventricle performed best in distinguishing both the P-PBD group from HCs and the NP-PBD group from HCs. The combined metrics demonstrated greater diagnostic value in two-by-two comparisons.

Conclusion: Current research suggests that PBD with psychotic symptoms may have more extensive lateral and third ventricular volume enlargement. Bilateral lateral ventricles may serve as potential neurobiomarkers to distinguish P- PBD patients from NP-PBD patients.

Two emotion regulation (ER) networks, the amygdala and ventral striatum (VS) circuits underpin defensive and reward processes related to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Youth who engaged in non-suicidal self-injury behavior (NSSIB) and healthy controls either watched images passively (passive condition) or increased their positive affect during positive/neutral images and decreased their negative affect during negative and self-harm images (regulate condition) in the scanner. NSSI youth showed higher amygdala to precuneus and inferior parietal lobe (IPL) connectivity while regulating emotions during self-harm images, a pattern which was associated with higher self-injury frequency. NSSI youth showed higher VS connectivity to the fusiform gyrus and parahippocampus while regulating emotions elicited by self-harm and positive images, which was in turn linked to higher self-harm frequency and relief after NSSI. Higher amygdala-precuneus and IPL connectivity in NSSI youth suggest greater self-identification with, or difficulty regulating negative affect elicited by, self-injury images. High VS-fusiform gyrus and parahippocampus connectivity during positive and self-harm images implies reward anomalies and/or greater effort to regulate positive affect. VS circuit's' links to relief and NSSIB frequency suggest VS reward-based learning as biomarker of NSSIB endurance. We discovered ER mechanisms in adolescents with NSSIB and promising targets for effective NSSIB treatment.

This review examines neuroimaging studies on adolescent depression (AD) within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, focusing on fMRI, DTI, and EEG findings. The research highlights disrupted connectivity in several neural networks-such as the affective, reward processing, cognitive control, and default mode networks-that underpin emotional and cognitive dysfunctions in AD. Notably, hypoconnectivity in the affective and cognitive control networks correlates with deficits in emotional processing and executive functioning, while hyperactivity in the default mode network relates to excessive self-referential thoughts. Additionally, blunted reward responses and frontal-striatal connectivity are discussed alongside the therapeutic potential of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to modulate these dysfunctional circuits. Despite these insights, variability in findings due to small sample sizes and diverse methodologies suggests a need for further research to validate neuroimaging biomarkers for treatment efficacy and to explore less studied treatments like ECT and TMS in this population. This review underscores the importance of integrating neuroimaging findings to enhance understanding and treatment of AD.