Aberrant default-mode network-hippocampus connectivity after sad memory-recall in remitted-depression

• Published in: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience Vol. 12; no. 11; pp. 1803 - 1813
• Main Authors: Figueroa, Caroline A, Mocking, Roel J T, van Wingen, Guido, Martens, Suzanne, Ruhé, Henricus G, Schene, Aart H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01-11-2017
• Subjects: Adult; Affect - physiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnostic imaging; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Emotions - physiology; Female; Hippocampus - diagnostic imaging; Hippocampus - physiopathology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall - physiology; Middle Aged; Nerve Net - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Net - physiopathology; Original; depression; autobiographical memory; mood; cognitive reactivity; remission
• ISSN: 1749-5016; 1749-5024
• DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx108

Rumination and cognitive reactivity (dysfunctional cognitions after sad mood-induction) remain high in remitted Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and can contribute to new episodes. These factors have been linked to increased fMRI resting-state functional-connectivity within the Default-Mode Network (DMN). It remains unclear whether (I) increased DMN-connectivity persists during MDD-remission, and (II) whether sad mood-induction differentially affects DMN-connectivity in remitted-MDD vs controls. Moreover, DMN-connectivity studies in remitted-MDD were previously confounded by antidepressant-use. Sixty-two MDD-patients remitted from ≥2 episodes, psychotropic-medication free, and 41 controls, participated in two 5-min neutral and sad mood-inductions by autobiographical-recall and neutral/sad music, each followed by 8-min resting-state fMRI-scanning. We identified DMN-components using Independent Component Analysis and entered subject- and sessions-specific components into a repeated measures analysis of variance. Connectivity-differences were extracted and correlated with baseline cognitive reactivity and rumination as measures of vulnerability for recurrence. After sad vs neutral mood-induction, controls, but not remitted-MDD, showed an increase in connectivity between the posterior-DMN and a cluster consisting mostly of the hippocampus (P = 0.006). Less posterior-DMN-hippocampal connectivity was associated with higher cognitive reactivity (r = -0.21, P = 0.046) and rumination (r = -0.27, P = 0.017). After recalling sad autobiographical-memories, aberrant posterior-DMN-hippocampal connectivity, associated with cognitive reactivity and rumination, remains a neural vulnerability in MDD-remission.