Topological Organization of Metabolic Brain Networks in Pre-Chemotherapy Cancer with Depression: A Resting-State PET Study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 11; p. e0166049
• Main Authors: Fang, Lei, Yao, Zhijun, An, Jianping, Chen, Xuejiao, Xie, Yuanwei, Zhao, Hui, Mao, Junfeng, Liang, Wangsheng, Ma, Xiangxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10.11.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Amygdala; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain; Brain - metabolism; Brain - pathology; Brain architecture; Brain Mapping; Brain research; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer patients; Cancer research; Chemotherapy; Clustering; Cognitive ability; Computer and Information Sciences; Correlation; Depression (Mood disorder); Depression - complications; Depression - metabolism; Depression - pathology; Depressive Disorder - complications; Depressive Disorder - metabolism; Depressive Disorder - pathology; Drug dosages; Female; Glucose - metabolism; Hospitals; Humans; Hypotheses; Information science; Male; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Memory; Mental depression; Metabolic networks; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Metabolism; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - complications; Neoplasms - metabolism; Neoplasms - pathology; Networks; Nuclear medicine; Oncology; Patients; Physiological aspects; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Research and Analysis Methods; Structure-function relationships; Studies; Tomography; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166049

This study aimed to investigate the metabolic brain network and its relationship with depression symptoms using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography data in 78 pre-chemotherapy cancer patients with depression and 80 matched healthy subjects. Functional and structural imbalance or disruption of brain networks frequently occur following chemotherapy in cancer patients. However, few studies have focused on the topological organization of the metabolic brain network in cancer with depression, especially those without chemotherapy. The nodal and global parameters of the metabolic brain network were computed for cancer patients and healthy subjects. Significant decreases in metabolism were found in the frontal and temporal gyri in cancer patients compared with healthy subjects. Negative correlations between depression and metabolism were found predominantly in the inferior frontal and cuneus regions, whereas positive correlations were observed in several regions, primarily including the insula, hippocampus, amygdala, and middle temporal gyri. Furthermore, a higher clustering efficiency, longer path length, and fewer hubs were found in cancer patients compared with healthy subjects. The topological organization of the whole-brain metabolic networks may be disrupted in cancer. Finally, the present findings may provide a new avenue for exploring the neurobiological mechanism, which plays a key role in lessening the depression effects in pre-chemotherapy cancer patients.