基于功能磁共振成像方法的单相抑郁症情绪加工特点研究

A study of emotional processing in unipolar depression using fMRI

运用功能磁共振成像(fMRI)技术,采用适合中国人情绪加工特点的表情图片(愉快、悲伤和中性表情)作为刺激材料,选取15名严格入组的未服药单相抑郁症女性患者与15名条件匹配的正常志愿者,对其情绪加工的大脑活动进行了对比研究。结果发现,与中性表情相比,在加工愉快表情时,抑郁症患者激活了右侧前额叶,而正常对照组激活的是左侧前额叶;在悲伤表情条件下,抑郁症患者激活了双侧颞下回,而正常对照组激活的是双侧前额叶。结果还发现,与正常对照组相比,抑郁症患者在双侧额下回三角区、右侧眶额下回、右侧颞下回等脑区的激活范围和强度均有所减少,尤其在加工悲伤表情时表现得更明显。该结果表明,单相抑郁症病人不仅在情绪加工相关脑区的功能上出现异常,而且加工情绪的脑区也可能出现了转移。

Using the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI）, the present study investigated the neural differences between a patient group of 15 unipolar depressed female patients and a control group of 15 matched normal volunteers. In this study, the emotional faces suitable for Chinese subjects were selected as the stimuli, fMRI results showed that for happy faces, the normal group showed activation in left prefrontal cortex, while the patients showed activation in right prefrontal cortex, For the sad condition, the normal group showed activation in bilateral prefrontal cortex, while the patient group showed activation in bilateral inferior temporal gyrus. Moreover, compared with the control group, the patients showed decreased activation in both magnitude and extent in bilateral triangle area of Inferior Frontal Gyrus, right orbital of area Inferior Frontal Gyrus, and Inferior Temporal Gyrus. This was more exaggerated for the sad condition. These results indicate that unipolar depressed patients may have not only functional abnormalities in emotion-related areas, but also brain area changes in emotion processing.