Altered neuronal spontaneous activity correlates with glutamate concentration in medial prefrontal cortex of major depressed females: An fMRI-MRS study

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders 2016-09, Vol.201, p.153-161
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiaoliu, Tang, Yingying, Maletic-Savatic, Mirjana, Sheng, Jianhua, Zhang, Xuanhong, Zhu, Yajing, Zhang, Tianhong, Wang, Junjie, Tong, Shanbao, Wang, Jijun, Li, Yao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use; Depressive Disorder, Major - drug therapy; Depressive Disorder, Major - metabolism; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - metabolism; Glutamic Acid - metabolism; Glutamine - metabolism; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Major depressive disorder; Medial prefrontal cortex; Neurons - physiology; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.05.014

Abstract Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is twice more prevalent in females than in males. Yet, there have only been a few studies on the functional brain activity in female MDD patients and the detailed mechanisms underlying their neurobiology merit further investigations. In the present work, we used combined fMRI-MRS methods to investigate the altered intrinsic neuronal activity and its association with neurotransmitter concentration in female MDD patients. Methods The whole brain amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to explore the alteration of intrinsic neuronal signals in MDD females (n=11) compared with female healthy controls (n=11). With a specific interest in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) area, we quantified the concentration of amino acid neurotransmitters including GABA (( r -aminobutyric acid)), Glu (Glutamate), and Glx (Glutamate + Glutamine) using1 H-MRS technology. Moreover, we conducted Pearson correlation analysis between the ALFF value and neurotransmitter concentration to find out the functional-biochemical relation in mPFC area. The relationship between the metabolites concentration and MDD symptomatology was also examined through Spearman correlation analysis. Results We found that the female MDD patients showed increased neuronal spontaneous activity in left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and left middle frontal cortex, with decreased ALFF level in right putamen and right middle temporal cortex ( p