Characterizing the temporal dynamics of intrinsic brain activities in depressed adolescents with prior suicide attempts

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry 2024-04, Vol.33 (4), p.1179-1191
• Main Authors: Cheng, Xiaofang, Chen, Jianshan, Zhang, Xiaofei, Wang, Ting, sun, Jiaqi, Zhou, Yanling, Yang, Ruilan, Xiao, Yeyu, Chen, Amei, Song, Ziyi, Chen, Pinrui, Yang, Chanjuan, QiuxiaWu, Lin, Taifeng, Chen, Yingmei, Cao, Liping, Wei, Xinhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Biological markers; Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain mapping; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Decision making; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnostic imaging; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Depressive personality disorders; Emotion recognition; Frontal gyrus; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Neurobiology; Neuroimaging; Original Contribution; Prediction models; Psychiatry; Recurrent; Response inhibition; Resting; Suicidal behavior; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted; Suicides & suicide attempts; Supplementary motor area; Teenagers; Temporal gyrus; Temporal Lobe; Variability; Vulnerability
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-023-02242-4

Converging evidence has revealed disturbances in the corticostriatolimic system are associated with suicidal behaviors in adults with major depressive disorder. However, the neurobiological mechanism that confers suicidal vulnerability in depressed adolescents is largely unknown. A total of 86 depressed adolescents with and without prior suicide attempts (SA) and 47 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional imaging (R-fMRI) scans. The dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dALFF) was measured using sliding window approach. We identified SA-related alterations in dALFF variability primarily in the left middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right SFG, supplementary motor area (SMA) and insula in depressed adolescents. Notably, dALFF variability in the left MFG and SMA was higher in depressed adolescents with recurrent suicide attempts than in those with a single suicide attempt. Moreover, dALFF variability was capable of generating better diagnostic and prediction models for suicidality than static ALFF. Our findings suggest that alterations in brain dynamics in regions involved in emotional processing, decision-making and response inhibition are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviors in depressed adolescents. Furthermore, dALFF variability could serve as a sensitive biomarker for revealing the neurobiological mechanisms underlying suicidal vulnerability.