Abnormal changes of dynamic topological characteristics in patients with major depressive disorder

Abstract

Background: Most studies have detected abnormalities of static topological characteristics in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, whether dynamic alternations in brain topology are influenced by MDD remains unknown.

Methods: An approach was proposed to capture the dynamic topological characteristics with sliding-window and graph theory for a large data sample from the REST-meta-MDD project.

Results: It was shown that patients with MDD were characterized by decreased nodal efficiency of the left orbitofrontal cortex. The temporal variability of topological characteristics was focused on the left opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus, and the right part of middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, precuneus and thalamus.

Limitations: Future studies need larger and diverse samples to explore the relationship between dynamic topological network characteristics and MDD symptoms.

Conclusions: The results support that the altered dynamic topology in cortex of frontal and parietal lobes and thalamus during resting-state activity may be involved in the neuropathological mechanism of MDD.

Keywords: Dynamic topological characteristics; Functional connectivity; Graph theory; Major depressive disorder.