Some aspects of resting-state fMRI signal can be the key markers of depression. fMRI was recoded over 4 min in evidently healthy persons (N=21) and in patients with mild depression (N=21). The data were separated into the independent spatial components, and the strength of their association with established brain networks was analyzed. The patients with mild depression were characterized with greater correlations between the components representing the ventral and dorsal subdivisions of default mode network (DMN), whereas correlations between the components relating to cerebellum and to the left hemisphere language system were less pronounced. The data revealed a significant role of DMN in the development of affective abnormalities and importance of its functional state as a probable marker of mild depression.
Keywords: analysis of independent components; default mode network; depression; resting-state fMRI.