Resting-state functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex in young adults depressed patients with and without suicidal behavior

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 384; p. 112544
• Main Authors: Qiu, Haitang, Cao, Bo, Cao, Jun, Li, Xinke, Chen, Jianmei, Wang, Wo, Lv, Zhen, Zhang, Shuang, Fang, Weidong, Ai, Ming, Kuang, li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 20.04.2020
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anterior cingulate cortex; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiopathology; Case-Control Studies; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnostic imaging; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Functional Neuroimaging; Gyrus Cinguli - diagnostic imaging; Gyrus Cinguli - physiopathology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Major depressive disorder; Male; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Regions of interest (ROIs); Rest; Subregion; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide, Attempted; Young Adult; Subregion; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Anterior cingulate cortex; Regions of interest (ROIs); Major depressive disorder
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112544

•76 major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with and without suicide behavior history young adults (aged 18–24 years) were recruited.•There were significant differences in functional connectivity in the subregions of ACC-superior frontal gyrus, left insula and right caudate between the two groups.•The suicidal ideation score has been linked to ACC-frontal gyrus functional connectivity.•This experiment is the first, to our knowledge, focused on the ACC functional connectivity role of young adults suicidal-MDD. Functional alterations in the subregions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Studies have shown that higher depressive symptoms are associated with altered functional connectivity (FC) in different ACC sub-regions. Suicide is highly prevalent in patients with MDD; however, it is unclear whether suicidal behavior is associated with the FC alterations in the subregions of the ACC in these indibiduals. Seventy-six patients with MDD (41 with and 35 without a history of suicidal behavior) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and were assessed using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI), and the Columbia Scale for Rating of Suicide Severity. We investigated the FC between the ACC subregions and other brain regions in young MDD patients with and without a history of suicidal behavior. The FC in the subregions of the ACC-superior frontal gyrus differed significantly between the two groups. Additionally, the anterior sgACC-right caudate FC and the pgACC-left insula FC were found to be abnormal in the suicidal MDD group. Interestingly, the suicidal ideation score positively correlated with decreased FC in the pgACC-superior frontal gyrus in both groups, but it negatively correlated with increased FC in the anterior sgACC-superior frontal gyrus in the non-suicidal MDD group. Our findings indicate that altered connections of subregions in the ACC may be involved in the neurological mechanisms underlying suicide in young adults with MDD.