Brain Functional Evaluation Of Depression In Patients Using Neuroimage Based On Brain Network

Purposes:Synovitis-acne-pustulosis-hyperostosis-osteitis(SAPHO)syndrome is a rare disease and there have been no papers published concerning psychiatric symptoms in SAPHO patients.Our study aims to reveal depression in SAPHO patients by brain network analysis.Materials and methods:Twenty-eight SAPHO patients and fifteen age-and gender-matched normal controls(NC)were consecutively submitted to psychiatric evaluation and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)scanning.All the patients were divided into depressed SAPHO(D-SAPHO)patients and non-depressed SAPHO patients by psychiatric assessment.Results:There were 46.4%(13/28)of SAPHO patients diagnosed as depression.The local spontaneous activity study showed that D-SAPHO patients had decreased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation(ALFF)in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex(VLPFC,attributed to the anatomical structures of Brodmann's area 47,45 and 44)and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC,attributed to the anatomical structures of Brodmann' s area 8,9 and 46),increased ALFF in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus,when compared to ND-SAPHO patients.The functional connectivity(FC)study disclosed that D-SAPHO patients had an increased FC in the anterior potions of default mode network(DMN)(the bilateral inferior frontal cortex,anterior cingulate cortex and insula cortex),and a decreased FC in the posterior areas of DMN(left middle occipital cortex),when compared to ND-SAPHO patients.Furthermore,correlation analysis revealed that both ALFF and FC values were significantly correlated with depression scores of SAPHO patients.Conclusion:These results prompt us to understand the underlying neurobio]ogical mechanism of depression in SAPHO syndrome,and abnormal brain functional areas may be good biological indicators to monitor depression in future.