Abnormal neural activities in first-episode, treatment-naïve, short-illness-duration, and treatment-response patients with major depressive disorder: A resting-state fMRI study

BackgroundAbnormality of limbic-cortical networks was postulated in depression. Using a regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach, we explored the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of the brain regions in patients with first-episode, treatment-naïve, short-illness-duration, and treatment-response depression in resting state to test the abnormality hypothesis of limbic-cortical networks in major depressive disorder (MDD).MethodsSeventeen patients with treatment-response MDD and 17 gender-, age-, and education-matched healthy subjects participated in the resting-state fMRI scans.Results1.The MDD group showed a significant lower ReHo in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, the right fusiform gyrus, the left parahippocampal gyrus, and the right postcentral gyrus compared with healthy subjects (p < 0.05, corrected).2.Relative to healthy subjects, a significant higher ReHo was found in the right inferior temporal gyrus in the MDD group (p < 0.05, corrected).ConclusionsOur findings suggested the abnormality of limbic-cortical networks in first-episode, treatment-naïve, short-illness-duration, and treatment-response MDD patients, and added an expanding literature to the abnormality hypothesis of limbic-cortical networks in MDD.