Brain Functioning In The Patients With Remitted Depression: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

ObjectiveThe study detected the brain functional changes in patients with remitted depression to primarily explore the neurobiological mechanisms of major depression disorder. Method19 patients with remitted depression and 14 matched healthy volunteers underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI); Among them, 15 patients with remitted depression and 13 matched healthy volunteers also underwent a task state functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) scan. A emotion face recognition task including neutral, negative and positive facial expression was performed by subjects. Regional homogeneity(ReHo)in resting-state and the intensities of brain activation during the emotion face recognition task were analyzed by SPM8 and DPARSF 2.2 software. ResultsCompared with the controls, in resting-state, the remitted depression showed increased ReHo in the left dorsal medial prefrontal cortex(t=4.070, P<0.01)and fusiform gyrus(t=3.855, P<0.01), and decreased ReHo in the left middle temporal gyrus(t=-4.851, P<0.01), left inferior parietal lobule(t=-4.459, P<0.01), and right cuneus(t=-3.477, P<0.01). Compared with the controls, Patients had increased activation responses to negative stimuli in the right middle temporal gyrus(t=4.209, P<0.01), left precentral gyrus(t=5.245, P<0.01), left cerebellum(t=4.317, P<0.01)and in vermis(t=3.733, P<0.01).ConclusionThe remitted depression is associated with abnormal functioning of certain brain regions related to negative stimuli biases. Considering the important role of negative stimuli biases with the onset and maintaining of major depression, our findings may represent trait markers of major depression.