Altered local activity and functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex in elderly individuals with subthreshold depression

Rui Li; Zhenling Ma; Jing Yu; Yong He; Juan Li

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.02.013

Altered local activity and functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex in elderly individuals with subthreshold depression

Psychiatry Res. 2014 Apr 30;222(1-2):29-36. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.02.013. Epub 2014 Mar 4.

Authors

Rui Li¹, Zhenling Ma², Jing Yu³, Yong He⁴, Juan Li⁵

Affiliations

¹ Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Research Center of Emotion Regulation, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
² Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100144, China.
³ Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
⁵ Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Research Center of Emotion Regulation, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: lijuan@psych.ac.cn.

PMID: 24656767
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.02.013

Abstract

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is recognized as a key structure in the pathogenesis of depression. This study aimed to investigate the resting-state regional activity and functional connectivity of the ACC in a community sample of elderly individuals with subthreshold depression (StD). We employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to acquire data from 19 elderly subjects with StD and 18 normal controls. We used a regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis and a correlation-based functional connectivity (FC) approach to explore changes in local activity and remote connectivity of the ACC in StD. Compared to controls, the StD group demonstrated increased ALFF in the anterior portion of the dorsal ACC (adACC). The adACC also displayed increased FC with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and supplementary motor area and decreased FC with several subcortical regions. The FC levels of the adACC displayed a trending correlation with self-reported depressive symptoms. This study is the first to reveal the ACC changes in resting-state activity and connectivity in the elderly with StD, suggesting that altered ALFF/FC of the adACC is an important feature of StD.

Keywords: Anterior cingulate; Depression; Resting state; fMRI.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Depression / physiopathology*
Depressive Disorder / physiopathology*
Female
Functional Neuroimaging
Gyrus Cinguli / physiopathology*
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Middle Aged
Nerve Net / physiopathology*
Severity of Illness Index