Modulatory interactions of resting-state brain functional connectivity in major depressive disorder

摘要

BackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is mediated by chronic dysregulation of complex neural circuits, particularly the specific neurotransmitters or other neural substrates. Recently, both increases and decreases in resting-state functional connectivity have been observed in patients with MDD. However, previous research has only assessed the functional connectivity within a specific network or some regions of interests, without considering the modulatory effects of the entire brain regions. To fill in the research gap, this study employed PPI (physiophysiological interaction) to investigate the functional connectivity in the entire brain regions. Apart from the traditional PPI used for cognitive research, current PPI analysis is more suitable for exploring the neural mechanism in MDD patients. Besides, this PPI method does not require a new cognitive estimation task and can assess the modulatory effects on different part of brain without prior setting of regions of interest.