title: A longitudinal functional neuroimaging study in medication-naïve depression after antidepressant treatment.
abstract: Recent studies have indicated the potential clinical use of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a tool in assisting the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD); however, it is still unclear whether NIRS signal changes during cognitive task are state- or trait-dependent, and whether NIRS could be a neural predictor of treatment response. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study to explore frontal haemodynamic changes following antidepressant treatment in medication-naïve MDD using 52-channel NIRS. This study included 25 medication-naïve individuals with MDD and 62 healthy controls (HC). We performed NIRS scans before and after antidepressant treatment and measured changes of [oxy-Hb] activation during a verbal fluency task (VFT) following treatment. Individuals with MDD showed significantly decreased [oxy-Hb] values during a VFT compared with HC in the bilateral frontal and temporal cortices at baseline. There were no [oxy-Hb] changes between pre- and post-antidepressant treatment time points in the MDD cohort despite significant improvement in depressive symptoms. There was a significant association between mean [oxy-Hb] values during a VFT at baseline and improvement in depressive symptoms following treatment in the bilateral inferior frontal and middle temporal gyri in MDD. These findings suggest that hypofrontality response to a VFT may represent a potential trait marker for depression rather than a state marker. Moreover, the correlation analysis indicates that the NIRS signals before the initiation of treatment may be a biological marker to predict patient's clinical response to antidepressant treatment. The present study provides further evidence to support a potential application of NIRS for the diagnosis and treatment of depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo 157-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomioka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo 157-8577, Japan; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Bun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.affiliation: Hitachi Medical Corporation, Application Development Office, Chiba 277-0804, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Shenghong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo 157-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwanami
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Jinichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, Tottori 683-8504, Japan; National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagome
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins