The neural signature of psychomotor disturbance in depression.

Wüthrich, Florian; Lefebvre, Stephanie; Mittal, Vijay A; Shankman, Stewart A; Alexander, Nina; Brosch, Katharina; Flinkenflügel, Kira; Goltermann, Janik; Grotegerd, Dominik; Hahn, Tim; Jamalabadi, Hamidreza; Jansen, Andreas; Leehr, Elisabeth J; Meinert, Susanne; Nenadić, Igor; Nitsch, Robert; Stein, Frederike; Straube, Benjamin; Teutenberg, Lea; Thiel, Katharina; ... (2024). The neural signature of psychomotor disturbance in depression. Molecular psychiatry, 29(2), pp. 317-326. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41380-023-02327-1

Preview

Text s41380-023-02327-1.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (2MB) | Preview

Up to 70% of patients with major depressive disorder present with psychomotor disturbance (PmD), but at the present time understanding of its pathophysiology is limited. In this study, we capitalized on a large sample of patients to examine the neural correlates of PmD in depression. This study included 820 healthy participants and 699 patients with remitted (n = 402) or current (n = 297) depression. Patients were further categorized as having psychomotor retardation, agitation, or no PmD. We compared resting-state functional connectivity (ROI-to-ROI) between nodes of the cerebral motor network between the groups, including primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, sensory cortex, superior parietal lobe, caudate, putamen, pallidum, thalamus, and cerebellum. Additionally, we examined network topology of the motor network using graph theory. Among the currently depressed 55% had PmD (15% agitation, 29% retardation, and 11% concurrent agitation and retardation), while 16% of the remitted patients had PmD (8% retardation and 8% agitation). When compared with controls, currently depressed patients with PmD showed higher thalamo-cortical and pallido-cortical connectivity, but no network topology alterations. Currently depressed patients with retardation only had higher thalamo-cortical connectivity, while those with agitation had predominant higher pallido-cortical connectivity. Currently depressed patients without PmD showed higher thalamo-cortical, pallido-cortical, and cortico-cortical connectivity, as well as altered network topology compared to healthy controls. Remitted patients with PmD showed no differences in single connections but altered network topology, while remitted patients without PmD did not differ from healthy controls in any measure. We found evidence for compensatory increased cortico-cortical resting-state functional connectivity that may prevent psychomotor disturbance in current depression, but may perturb network topology. Agitation and retardation show specific connectivity signatures. Motor network topology is slightly altered in remitted patients arguing for persistent changes in depression. These alterations in functional connectivity may be addressed with non-invasive brain stimulation.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

42 since deposited on 01 Dec 2023
42 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item