Aberrant brain connectivity is associated with childhood maltreatment in individuals with major depressive disorder

• Published in: Brain imaging and behavior Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 2021 - 2036
• Main Authors: Luo, Qianyi, Chen, Juran, Li, Yuhong, Wu, Zhiyao, Lin, Xinyi, Yao, Jiazheng, Yu, Huiwen, Wu, Huawang, Peng, Hongjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-10-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attention; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Child abuse & neglect; Children; Computer architecture; Independent component analysis; Limbic system; Mental depression; Neural networks; Neuropsychology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Original Research; Psychiatry; Sensorimotor system; Sensory integration; Visual perception; childhood maltreatment; resting-state network; independent component analysis; functional connectivity; major depressive disorder
• ISSN: 1931-7557; 1931-7565
• DOI: 10.1007/s11682-022-00672-3

Although childhood maltreatment confers a high risk for the development of major depressive disorder, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this connection remain unknown. The present study sought to identify the specific resting-state networks associated with childhood maltreatment. We recruited major depressive disorder patients with and without a history of childhood maltreatment (n = 31 and n = 30, respectively) and healthy subjects (n = 80). We used independent component analysis to compute inter- and intra- network connectivity. We found that individuals with major depressive disorder and childhood maltreatment could be characterized by the following network disconnectivity model relative to healthy subjects: (i) decreased intra-network connectivity in the left frontoparietal network and increased intra-network connectivity in the right frontoparietal network, (ii) decreased inter-network connectivity in the posterior default mode network—auditory network, posterior default mode network—limbic system, posterior default mode network—anterior default mode network, auditory network—medial visual network, lateral visual network - medial visual network, medial visual network—sensorimotor network, medial visual network - anterior default mode network, occipital pole visual network—dorsal attention network, and posterior default mode network—anterior default mode network, and (iii) increased inter-network connectivity in the sensorimotor network—ventral attention network, and dorsal attention network—ventral attention network. Moreover, we found significant correlations between the severity of childhood maltreatment and the intra-network connectivity of the frontoparietal network. Our study demonstrated that childhood maltreatment is integrally associated with aberrant network architecture in patients with major depressive disorder.