Abnormal functional connectivity of the amygdala is associated with depressive symptoms in patients with multiple system atrophy

Abstract

Purpose

Depressive symptoms are frequent nonmotor symptoms that occur in multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients. However, possible changes that can present in the amygdala (AMY) functional connectivity (FC) of the brain in MSA patients with depressive symptoms (DMSA patients) remain largely unknown.

Materials and methods

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 29 DMSA patients, 28 MSA patients without depression symptoms (NDMSA patients), and 34 healthy controls (HCs). FC was analyzed by defining the bilateral AMY as the seed region. Correlation analysis was performed between the FC and clinical scores.

Results

When compared with NDMSA patients, DMSA patients showed increased bilateral AMY FC in the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and decreased right AMY FC in the left middle occipital gyrus. Moreover, the AMY FC values in the left middle frontal cortex were positively correlated with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 item scores. Furthermore, relative to the HCs, DMSA patients presented decreased bilateral AMY FC values in the visuospatial cortex, sensorimotor networks, and limbic areas.

Conclusion

Depressive symptoms are associated with AMY–MFG FC anomalies in MSA patients. We propose that the middle frontal cortex may play an important role in the neuropathophysiology of depression in MSA patients.

Keywords:

• multiple system atrophy
• depression
• functional magnetic resonance imaging
• functional connectivity
• amygdala

Acknowledgments

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. We also thank all the participants and their families.

Author contributions

Bin Zhao contributed to study design, neurological assessments, and writing the manuscript. Hu Liu and Huanhuan Li involved in image processing. Hu Liu and Bin Zhao performed statistical analyses. Xiuli Shang provided critical revision of the manuscript. All authors contributed to data analysis, drafting and revising the article, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.