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. 2022 Jul 27:16:966087.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.966087. eCollection 2022.

Cerebral blood flow in adolescents with drug-naive, first-episode major depressive disorder: An arterial spin labeling study based on voxel-level whole-brain analysis

Ying Xiong  1   2 , Rong-Sheng Chen  1 , Xing-Yu Wang  1 , Xiao Li  3 , Lin-Qi Dai  3 , Ren-Qiang Yu  1
Affiliations

Cerebral blood flow in adolescents with drug-naive, first-episode major depressive disorder: An arterial spin labeling study based on voxel-level whole-brain analysis

Ying Xiong et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Purpose: The major depressive disorder (MDD) can be a threat to the health of people all over the world. Although governments have developed and implemented evidence-based interventions and prevention programs to prevent MDD and maintain mental health in adolescents, the number of adolescents with this condition has been on the rise for the past 10 years.

Methods: A total of 60 adolescents were recruited, including 32 drug-naive adolescents with first-episode MDD and 28 healthy controls (HCs). Alterations in the intrinsic cerebral activity of the adolescents with MDD were explored using arterial spin labeling (ASL) while differences in the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of the two groups were assessed based on voxel-based whole-brain analysis. Finally, correlations between the regional functional abnormalities and clinical variables were investigated for adolescents with MDD.

Results: Compared with HCs, MDD patients had a lower rCBF in the left triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFGtriang) but a higher one in the right Precental gyrus (PreCG). Negative correlations were also noted between the CBF in the left IFGtriang and the Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) scores of MDD patients.

Conclusion: Elucidating the neurobiological features of adolescent patients with MDD is important to adequately develop methods that can assist in early diagnosis, precaution and intervention.

Keywords: adolescent; arterial spin labeling; fMRI; major depressive disorder; regional cerebral blood flow.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) between healthy controls (HCs) and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. The blue area represents a decrease in rCBF while the red one represents an increase in rCBF.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Correlational analyses between cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the left triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFGtriang) and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) scores for the two groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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