Citation

Du L, Zeng J, Liu H, Tang D, Meng H, Li Y, Fu Y. J. Affect. Disord. 2017; 215: 213-217.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2017.02.027

PMID

28340447

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Suicidal ideation (SI) is highly prevalent and a known symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but its underlying biological mechanisms are relatively unknown. Several studies linked suicidal ideation to dysfunctional brain circuits, specifically fronto-limbic connections. The purpose of this work was to investigate fronto-limbic disconnection in MDD patients with or without SI.
METHODS: MDD patients with SI (SI, n=28) or without SI (NSI, n=20), identified by the Scale for Suicide Ideation and healthy controls (HCs, n=30) underwent resting-state functional MRI scanning. The functional properties of correlations in neural activity (intrinsic functional connectivity, iFC) of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) were analyzed among the three groups. Furthermore, correlation analyses between iFC, SI severity and depression severity were performed.
RESULTS: We found that the SI group exhibited decreased iFC between the rACC, the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex and the right middle temporal pole compared to HCs and NSI groups. The NSI group showed decreased iFC between the rACC and the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex compared to HCs. In the SI group, iFC strength between the right rACC and the middle temporal pole positively correlated with SI severity.
CONCLUSION: Transdiagnostic and diagnosis-specific alterations of fronto-limbic iFC were found in MDD patients with or without SI. Disrupted fronto-limbic circuits may impact decision-making and emotional processing in SI. These results provide useful information about the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD patients with SI.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Female; Male; Emotions; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Suicidal Ideation; Suicidal ideation; Major depressive disorder; Gyrus Cinguli; Depressive Disorder, Major; Temporal Lobe; Fronto-limbic disconnection; Intrinsic functional connectivity; Rostral anterior cingulate cortex