Functional abnormalities in first-episode major depressive disorder with somatic pain

• Main Authors: Jiaquan Liang, Hairong Liao, Xiaoling Li, Caixia Xu, Zhenyu Xu, Yang Yu, Hui Zhou, Xiaobing Lu, Guojun Xie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
• Series: Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
• Subjects: Depression with somatic pain; Major depressive disorder; Pain; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Regional homogeneity
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915320300299

Objective: Depression has a high incidence of somatic pain, and the mechanism of pain in depressed patients remains unclear. Our study explored brain areas with abnormal activity in first-episode major depressive disorder with somatic pain using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) and the relationship between depression and somatic pain. Methods: Thirty-two depressed patients (sixteen with somatic pain and sixteen without somatic pain) diagnosed with major depressive disorder by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and thirty-three healthy controls were scanned by rfMRI. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to analyze differences between depressed patients with somatic pain and those without somatic pain. Results: ReHo values in the left postcentral gyrus (postcentral_l) and the left precentral gyrus (precentral_l) of the depressed patients with somatic pain were significantly higher than those in the patients without somatic pain (tpostcentral_l = 4.93, ppostcentral_l<0.001; tprecentral_l = 4.57, pprecentral_l<0.001), and the ReHo values in both areas were positively correlated with the pain scores (rpostcentral_l = 0.511, ppostcentral_l<0.001; rprecentral_l = 0.466, pprecentral_l <0.001). Conclusions: Abnormalities in the left postcentral gyrus and precentral gyrus (sensorimotor area) may play important roles in depressed patients with somatic pain.