抑郁症患者脑网络拓扑属性研究分析

Study on Brain Network Topological Properties of the Depression Patients

功能影像学从病理生理学角度研究发现,抑郁症患者与正常人相比在皮质区域和边缘系统存在功能紊乱.然而,很少有研究涉及抑郁症患者在全局效率和局部效率方面的变化.近年来随着图论方法的发展,人们迫切希望了解抑郁症患者大脑功能脑网络拓扑结构的变化.本文使用静息状态功能磁共振成像(fMRI)数据和图论的方法去研究正常人和抑郁症患者的全脑功能脑网络特征.研究结果表明,与正常人相比抑郁症患者显现出较高的局部效率.与此同时,抑郁症患者在很多脑区的节点属性有所改变.这可能表明抑郁症患者更容易受到负面情绪的影响.目前的研究可能揭示抑郁症的发病机制,为临床治疗提供新的研究方向.

The functional encouraging studies have shown that the depressive is associated with dysfunction of corti- cal regions and limbic system compared with healthy controls. However, there are few research is about alterations of the global and local efficiency in abnormal regions of MDD patients. Recently, the developments in graph theory have heightened the need for investigating the alter in the topological structure of functional brain network in MDD. In this study, we use the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） and graph theory to examine the whole-brain functional networks among the MDD patients and healthy controls. Our results showed that com- pared with healthy controls, MDD patients showed higher local efficiency. Furthermore, MDD patients showed al- tered nodal centrality of many brain regions. It might suggest that MDD are more susceptible to the effects of nega- tive emotions. The present study may shed light on the pathological mechanism of major depression and provide potential biomarkers for clinic treatment of depression.