Peripheral inflammation is associated with micro-structural and functional connectivity changes in depression-related brain networks
Authors
Kitzbichler, MG
Aruldass, AR
Barker, GJ
Wood, TC
Dowell, NG
Hurley, SA
McLean, J
Correia, M
Clarke, C
Pointon, L
Cavanagh, J
Cowen, P
Pariante, C
Cercignani, M
Bullmore, ET
Publication Date
2021-11Journal Title
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
ISSN
0889-1591
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
98
Pages
21-21
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Kitzbichler, M., Aruldass, A., Barker, G., Wood, T., Dowell, N., Hurley, S., McLean, J., et al. (2021). Peripheral inflammation is associated with micro-structural and functional connectivity changes in depression-related brain networks. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 98 21-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.08.083
Abstract
Inflammation is associated with depressive symptoms and innate immune mechanisms are likely causal in some cases of major
depression. Systemic inflammation also perturbs brain function and microstructure, though how these are related remains unclear.
We recruited N = 46 healthy controls, and N = 83 depressed cases stratified by CRP (> 3 mg/L: N = 33; < 3 mg/L: N = 50). All
completed clinical assessment, venous blood sampling for C-reactive protein (CRP) assay, and brain magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI). Micro-structural MRI parameters including proton density (PD), a measure of tissue water content, were measured at 360
cortical and 16 subcortical regions. Resting-state fMRI time series were correlated to estimate functional connectivity between
individual regions, as well as the sum of connectivity (weighted degree) of each region. Multiple tests for regional analysis were
controlled by the false discovery rate (FDR = 5%). We found that CRP was significantly associated with PD in precuneus, posterior
cingulate cortex (pC/pCC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); and with functional connectivity between pC/pCC, mPFC and
hippocampus. Depression was associated with reduced weighted degree of pC/pCC, mPFC, and other nodes of the default mode
network (DMN). Thus CRP-related increases in proton density—a plausible marker of extracellular oedema—and changes in
functional connectivity were anatomically co-localised with DMN nodes that also demonstrated significantly reduced hubness in
depression. We suggest that effects of peripheral inflammation on DMN node micro-structure and connectivity may mediate
inflammatory effects on depression.
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (104025/Z/14/Z)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.08.083
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/334911
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