title: Early life stress affects limited regional brain activity in depression.
abstract: Early life stress (ELS) can alter brain function and increases the risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) in later life. This study investigated whether ELS contributes to differences in regional brain activity between MDD patients and healthy controls (HC), as measured by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF)/fractional (f)ALFF. Eighteen first-episode, treatment-naïve MDD patients and HC were assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We compared ALFF/fALFF between MDD patients and HC, with or without controlling for ELS, and determined whether ELS level was correlated with regional brain activity in each group. After regressing out ELS, we found that ALFF increased in bilateral amygdala and left orbital/cerebellum, while fALFF decreased in left inferior temporal and right middle frontal gyri in MDD patients relative to controls. ELS positively correlated with regional activity in the left cerebellum in MDD and in the right post-central/inferior temporal/superior frontal cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral cerebellum in HC. Our findings indicate that there is only very limited region showing correlation between ELS and brain activity in MDD, while diverse areas in HC, suggesting ELS has few impacts on MDD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jingjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Department, Chongqing Cancer Hospital, Chongqing 400030, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.|Sleep Ward, the First Branch of First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiangying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Sleep and Psychosomatic Diseases Ward, the Third military medical university third hospital, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qingling
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Psychosomatic Department, the Ninth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing 400700, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lingling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yongmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fajin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires