title: Altered functional connectivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in first-episode patients with major depressive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate resting-state functional connectivity alteration of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in patients with first-episode major depressive disorder (MDD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two first-episode MDD patients and thirty age-, gender- and education-matched healthy control subjects were enrolled. Rest state functional magnetic resonance images and structure magnetic resonance images were scanned. The functional connectivity analysis was done based on the result of voxel-based morphometry (VBM). And the right DLPFC was chosen as the seed region of interests (ROI), as its gray matter density (GMD) decreased in the MDD patients compared with controls and its GMD values were negative correlation with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to healthy controls, the MDD patients showed increased functional connectivity with right the DLPFC in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), thalamus and precentral gyrus. In contrast, there were decreased functional connectivity between the right DLPFC and right parietal lobe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By applying the VBM results to the functional connectivity analysis, the study suggested that abnormality of GMD in right DLPFC might be related to the functional connectivity alteration in the pathophysiology of MDD, which might be useful in further characterizing structure-function relations in this disorder.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analytical Techniques, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 918, Yu-Quan St, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China. yeting@ihep.ac.cn
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Binbin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jiangtao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Kuncheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Baoci
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shan
mesh_terms: D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*