Changed ventral striatum structural covariance and grey matter volume in depression during a one-year follow-up.

Empirical findings suggest reduced cortico-striatal structural connectivity in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between the abnormal structural covariance and one-year outcome of first-episode drug-naive patients has not been evaluated. This longitudinal study aimed to identify specific changes of ventral striatum-related brain structural covariance and grey matter volume in forty-two first-episode patients with major depression disorder compared with thirty-seven healthy controls at the baseline and the one-year follow-up conditions.

Transcriptomic decoding of regional cortical vulnerability to major depressive disorder.

Previous studies in small samples have identified inconsistent cortical abnormalities in major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite genetic influences on MDD and the brain, it is unclear how genetic risk for MDD is translated into spatially patterned cortical vulnerability. Here, we initially examined voxel-wise differences in cortical function and structure using the largest multi-modal MRI data from 1660 MDD patients and 1341 controls.

Anhedonia correlates with abnormal functional connectivity of the superior temporal gyrus and the caudate nucleus in patients with first-episode drug-naive major depressive disorder.

Background: Recent empirical findings have suggested that imbalanced neural networks may underlie the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the contribution of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the caudate nucleus to its pathophysiology remains unclear.

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) date were acquired from 40 patients with first-episode drug-naive MDD and 36 matched healthy controls during wakeful rest.

White matter microstructural abnormalities and their association with anticipatory anhedonia in depression.

Anhedonia is associated with dysfunction of the neural circuitry of reward in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, its neurobiological basis is not fully understood. The present study examined the association between anhedonia and white matter (WM) characteristics in patients with first-episode MDD.

Neural substrates of the impaired effort expenditure decision making in schizophrenia.

Objective: Unwillingness to expend more effort to pursue high value rewards has been associated with motivational anhedonia in schizophrenia (SCZ) and abnormal dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). The authors hypothesized that dysfunction of the NAcc and the associated forebrain regions are involved in the impaired effort expenditure decision-making of SCZ.

Method: A 2 (reward magnitude: low vs.

Increased prefrontal and parietal cortical thickness does not correlate with anhedonia in patients with untreated first-episode major depressive disorders.

Cerebral morphological abnormalities in major depressive disorder (MDD) may be modulated by antidepressant treatment and course of illness in chronic medicated patients. The present study examined cortical thickness in patients with untreated first-episode MDD to elucidate the early pathophysiology of this illness. Here, we examined cortical thickness in patients with first-episode MDD (N=27) and healthy controls (N=27) using an automated surface-based method (in FreeSurfer).

Diminished caudate and superior temporal gyrus responses to effort-based decision making in patients with first-episode major depressive disorder.

Background: Anhedonia, the loss of interest or pleasure in reward processing, is a hallmark feature of major depressive disorder (MDD), but its underlying neurobiological mechanism is largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine the underlying neural mechanism of reward-related decision-making in patients with MDD.

Method: We examined behavioral and neural responses to rewards in patients with first-episode MDD (N=25) and healthy controls (N=25) using the Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT).

Motivational deficits in effort-based decision making in individuals with subsyndromal depression, first-episode and remitted depression patients.

Anhedonia is a hallmark symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD). Preliminary findings suggest that anhedonia is characterized by reduced reward anticipation and motivation of obtaining reward. However, relatively little is known about reward-based decision-making in depression.

Planning skills moderate the intention-planning cognitions-behaviour relation: a longitudinal study on physical activity in Chinese adolescents.

Our objective is to examine the role of planning skills for translating intentions into physical activity via planning cognitions. A study with 534 adolescents was conducted. Over 4 weeks, intention, planning cognitions (prospective anticipation of when, where, and how to perform activities), planning skills (successful past planning experiences), and physical activity were assessed.

The relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms in 5-HT2A signal transduction-related genes and the response efficacy to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatments in Chinese patients with major depressive disorder.

Objective: To explore the possible relationship between six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs6311 and rs6305 of 5-HT2A, rs5443 of Gβ3, rs2230739 of ACDY9, rs1549870 of PDE1A and rs255163 of CREB1, which are all related with 5-HT2A the signal transduction pathway) and the response efficacy to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatments in major depressive disorder (MDD) Chinese.

Methods: This study included 194 depressed patients to investigate the influence of 6 polymorphisms in 5-HT2A signal transduction-related genes on the efficacy of SSRIs assessed over 1 year. The efficacies of SSRIs on 194 MDD patients were evaluated in an 8-week open-trial study.

Association study of astrocyte-derived protein S100B gene polymorphisms with major depressive disorder in Chinese people.

Objective: Astroglial-derived protein S100B is known to play important roles in axonal growth, neural plasticity, and energy regulation. Disturbance of these neurodevelopmental processes is proposed as one possible etiology for mood disorder. Therefore, we performed a genetic analysis of S100B in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

The effects of gender and numbers of depressive episodes on serum S100B levels in patients with major depression.

S100B protein is a calcium-binding protein mostly derived from glial cells, which exerts trophic or toxic effects on neural cell depending on its concentration. It has been reported that S100B played an important role as a potential marker in psychiatric disorders. Thus, we will explore the clinical implication of S100B in major depression, especially the effect of gender and numbers of depressive episodes on S100B.

No association of the rs9722 C >T in the S100B gene and susceptibility to major depression in a Chinese population.

Objective: Astroglial-derived protein S100B is known to play important roles in axonal growth, neural plasticity, and energy regulation. Disturbance of these neurodevelopmental processes is proposed as one of the etiologies for mood disorder, and genetic polymorphisms of S100B have a possibility to be in susceptibility to major depressive disorder (MDD).

Method: We first investigated the association of the rs9722 C > T polymorphism of the S100B gene and susceptibility to MDD by comparing 152 major depressive patients with 150 healthy individuals in a Chinese population.