title: Reduced left precentral regional responses in patients with major depressive disorder and history of suicide attempts.
abstract: Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed frontal and temporal functional abnormalities in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and a history of suicidal behavior. However, it is unknown whether multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) signal changes among individuals with MDD are associated with a history of suicide attempts and a diathesis for suicidal behavior (impulsivity, hopelessness, and aggression). Therefore, we aimed to explore frontotemporal hemodynamic responses in depressed patients with a history of suicide attempts using 52-channel NIRS. We recruited 30 patients with MDD and a history of suicidal behavior (suicide attempters; SAs), 38 patient controls without suicidal behavior (non-attempters; NAs), and 40 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age, gender ratio, and estimated IQ. Regional hemodynamic responses during a verbal fluency task (VFT) were monitored using NIRS. Our results showed that severities of depression, impulsivity, aggression, and hopelessness were similar between SAs and NAs. Both patient groups had significantly reduced activation compared with HCs in the bilateral frontotemporal regions. Post hoc analyses revealed that SAs exhibited a smaller hemodynamic response in the left precentral gyrus than NAs and HCs. Furthermore, the reduced response in the left inferior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with impulsivity level and hemodynamic responses in the right middle frontal gyrus were negatively associated with hopelessness and aggression in SAs but not in NAs and HCs. Our findings suggest that MDD patients with a history of suicide attempts demonstrate patterns of VFT-induced NIRS signal changes different from those demonstrated by individuals without a history of suicidal behaviors, even in cases where clinical symptoms are similar. NIRS has a relatively high time resolution, which may help visually differentiate SAs from NAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Noa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3434-6280
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Wakako
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.|Department of Psychological Science, Graduate School of Humanities, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Emi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Science, Graduate School of Humanities, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shirakawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*