Changes in brain connectivity related to the treatment of depression measured through fMRI: a systematic review

Depression is a mental illness that presents alterations in brain connectivity in the Default Mode Network (DMN), the Affective Network (AN) and other cortical-limbic networks, and the Cognitive Control Network (CCN), among others. In recent years the interest in the possible effect of the different antidepressant treatments on functional connectivity has increased substantially. The goal of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of the studies on the relationship between the treatment of depression and brain connectivity. Nineteen studies were found in a systematic review on this topic. In all of them, there was improvement of the clinical symptoms after antidepressant treatment. In 18 out of the 19 studies, clinical improvement was associated to changes in brain connectivity. It seems that both DMN and the connectivity between cortical and limbic structures consistently changes after antidepressant treatment. However, the current evidence does not allow us to assure that the treatment of depression leads to changes in the CCN. In this regard, some papers report a positive correlation between changes in brain connectivity and improvement of depressive symptomatology, particularly when they measure cortical-limbic connectivity, whereas the changes in DMN do not significantly correlate with clinical improvement. Finally, some papers suggest that changes in connectivity after antidepressant treatment might be partly related to the mechanisms of action of the treatment administered. This effect has been observed in two studies with stimulation treatment (one with rTMS and one with ECT), and in two papers that administered three different pharmacological treatments. Our review allows us to make a series of recommendations that might guide future researchers exploring the effect of anti-depression treatments on brain connectivity.

[1]  G L Shulman,et al.  INAUGURAL ARTICLE by a Recently Elected Academy Member:A default mode of brain function , 2001 .

[2]  Vinod Menon,et al.  Functional connectivity in the resting brain: A network analysis of the default mode hypothesis , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[3]  M. Corbetta,et al.  Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain , 2002, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[4]  Masato Fukuda,et al.  Executive and prefrontal dysfunction in unipolar depression: a review of neuropsychological and imaging evidence , 2004, Neuroscience Research.

[5]  M. Lowe,et al.  Antidepressant Effect on Connectivity of the Mood-Regulating Circuit: An fMRI Study , 2005, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[6]  A. Laird,et al.  A meta-analytic study of changes in brain activation in depression , 2006, Acta Neuropsychiatrica.

[7]  Enrico Simonotto,et al.  Limbic over-activity in depression during preserved performance on the n-back task , 2006, NeuroImage.

[8]  Yang Wang,et al.  Reciprocal effects of antidepressant treatment on activity and connectivity of the mood regulating circuit: an FMRI study. , 2007, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

[9]  M. Thase,et al.  Increased Amygdala and Decreased Dorsolateral Prefrontal BOLD Responses in Unipolar Depression: Related and Independent Features , 2007, Biological Psychiatry.

[10]  G. Glover,et al.  Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Major Depression: Abnormally Increased Contributions from Subgenual Cingulate Cortex and Thalamus , 2007, Biological Psychiatry.

[11]  Nicholas D. Walsh,et al.  Functional Coupling of the Amygdala in Depressed Patients Treated with Antidepressant Medication , 2008, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[12]  Abraham Z. Snyder,et al.  Altered Emotional Interference Processing in Affective and Cognitive-Control Brain Circuitry in Major Depression , 2008, Biological Psychiatry.

[13]  C. Carter,et al.  Altered functioning of the executive control circuit in late-life depression: episodic and persistent phenomena. , 2009, The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

[14]  S. Debener,et al.  Default-mode brain dysfunction in mental disorders: A systematic review , 2009, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[15]  N. Kalin,et al.  Reduced capacity to sustain positive emotion in major depression reflects diminished maintenance of fronto-striatal brain activation , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[16]  R. Elliott,et al.  Brain Imaging Correlates of Cognitive Impairment in Depression , 2009, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[17]  M. Greicius,et al.  Resting-state functional connectivity reflects structural connectivity in the default mode network. , 2009, Cerebral cortex.

[18]  Klaas E. Stephan,et al.  Funktionelle und effektive Konnektivität , 2009 .

[19]  S. Rombouts,et al.  Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience Systems Neuroscience , 2022 .

[20]  M. Mintun,et al.  Resting-state functional MRI in depression unmasks increased connectivity between networks via the dorsal nexus , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[21]  Daniella J. Furman,et al.  Frontostriatal functional connectivity in major depressive disorder , 2011, Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders.

[22]  Karl J. Friston.  Functional and Effective Connectivity: A Review , 2011, Brain Connect..

[23]  M. Wiesmann,et al.  Neural correlates of treatment outcome in major depression. , 2011, The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology.

[24]  John D. Van Horn,et al.  Publication Bias in Neuroimaging Research: Implications for Meta-Analyses , 2011, Neuroinformatics.

[25]  Sophie Guionnet,et al.  Brain effects of antidepressants in major depression: a meta-analysis of emotional processing studies. , 2011, Journal of affective disorders.

[26]  Stephen E. Jones,et al.  Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Brain Functional Activation and Connectivity in Depression , 2012, The journal of ECT.

[27]  I. Hickie,et al.  A systematic review of resting-state functional-MRI studies in major depression. , 2012, Journal of affective disorders.

[28]  C. Schwarzbauer,et al.  Electroconvulsive therapy reduces frontal cortical connectivity in severe depressive disorder , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[29]  N. Kalin,et al.  Relationships between changes in sustained fronto-striatal connectivity and positive affect in major depression resulting from antidepressant treatment. , 2013, The American journal of psychiatry.

[30]  Feng Liu,et al.  Abnormal resting-state cerebellar–cerebral functional connectivity in treatment-resistant depression and treatment sensitive depression , 2013, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[31]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Resting state functional connectivity and treatment response in late-life depression , 2013, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

[32]  V. Calhoun,et al.  Electroconvulsive Therapy Response in Major Depressive Disorder: A Pilot Functional Network Connectivity Resting State fMRI Investigation , 2013, Front. Psychiatry.

[33]  Bradley S Peterson,et al.  Antidepressants normalize the default mode network in patients with dysthymia. , 2013, JAMA psychiatry.

[34]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  A Treatment-Resistant Default Mode Subnetwork in Major Depression , 2013, Biological Psychiatry.

[35]  Conor Liston,et al.  Default Mode Network Mechanisms of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Depression , 2014, Biological Psychiatry.

[36]  Xiao-ping Wu,et al.  Hypothalamus-Anchored Resting Brain Network Changes before and after Sertraline Treatment in Major Depression , 2014, BioMed research international.

[37]  Daniele Marinazzo,et al.  Accelerated HF-rTMS in treatment-resistant unipolar depression: Insights from subgenual anterior cingulate functional connectivity , 2014, The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry.

[38]  Joseph Geraci,et al.  Resting-State Cortico-Thalamic-Striatal Connectivity Predicts Response to Dorsomedial Prefrontal rTMS in Major Depressive Disorder , 2013, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[39]  Lisanne M. Jenkins,et al.  Increased Coupling of Intrinsic Networks in Remitted Depressed Youth Predicts Rumination and Cognitive Control , 2014, PloS one.

[40]  A. Young,et al.  Diagnostic and therapeutic utility of neuroimaging in depression: an overview , 2014, Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

[41]  Shane McKie,et al.  Resting state networks in major depressive disorder , 2014, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

[42]  Y. Ma,et al.  Neuropsychological mechanism underlying antidepressant effect: a systematic meta-analysis , 2014, Molecular Psychiatry.

[43]  Christine L Larson,et al.  Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression. , 2015, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[44]  B. Biswal.  Resting-State Functional Connectivity , 2015 .

[45]  Li Wang,et al.  The effects of antidepressant treatment on resting‐state functional brain networks in patients with major depressive disorder , 2015, Human brain mapping.

[46]  A. González-Garrido,et al.  Type 1 Diabetes Modifies Brain Activation in Young Patients While Performing Visuospatial Working Memory Tasks , 2015, Journal of diabetes research.