title: Dysfunction of the cingulo-opercular network in first-episode medication-naive patients with major depressive disorder.
abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder that may be associated with abnormal cognitive control and emotion regulation. Previous studies have found that network disconnection within the cingulo-opercular network (CON) plays an important role in psychiatric disorders and that the CON may be relevant to the psychopathology of MDD. We thus used the resting-state functional connectivity method in patients with MDD and healthy controls to examine CON neural circuit abnormalities in MDD.
  
  
  
  Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the resting state functional connectivity of the CON using the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) as the seed region of interest. The resulting functional connectivity (FC) correlation maps were employed to investigate between-group differences. Additionally, we examined the association between depression symptom severity and functional connectivity results. The participants were patients with MDD (n=19) and healthy controls (n=19).
  
  
  
  Patients with MDD showed abnormalities in the connectivity of the CON. We found abnormal connectivity in MDD patients between the dACC and the bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left angular gyrus (LAG) and precentral gyrus. Moreover, regression analysis showed that depression symptom severity (measured with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire scores (ATQ)) was significantly correlated with the FC values of the CON.
  
  
  
  First, our study consisted of a relatively small sample size that may have limited statistical power. Second, the current study design cannot conclusively specify the role of the CON in the neuropathology of depression.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest that MDD is associated with disrupted FC of the CON, which plays an important role in the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Education Ministry, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. Electronic address: linpan@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Xi'an Central Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710003, China.
authors.forename: Junle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Education Ministry, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the Affiliated Xi'an Central Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710003, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China. Electronic address: cjr.yangjian@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cingulo-opercular network; Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; Functional connectivity; Major depressive disorder; Resting state