Frontal regional homogeneity increased and temporal regional homogeneity decreased after remission of first-episode drug-naive major depressive disorder with panic disorder patients under duloxetine therapy for 6 weeks

Objective: We designed this study to investigate the changes of regional homogeneity (ReHo) after a 6-week duloxetine therapy in first-episode drug-naive major depressive disorder with panic disorder (FEMDDPD) patients. Method: 31 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning and ReHo functional MRI analysis were performed on 15 patients (male: 5; female: 10; age: 35.87 +/- 9.59 years old) at baseline and remitted status (sixth week) compared with 15 healthy control subjects (male: 4: female: 11; age: 34.30 +/- 9.87 years old) which were scanned twice within 6 weeks. The ReHo was analyzed by the REST toolbox (resting-state functional MRI data analysis toolbox). The ReHos of different time-points were compared by using paired t test function of REST. Results: ReHo increased in right superior frontal cortex, right medial frontal cortex and decreased in right superior temporal cortex (uncorrected p<0.00005, cluster threshold >20, surface connected theory) after remission of symptoms in these FEMDDPD patients within 6 weeks (improvements of clinician rating and self rating scale scores; post-hoc corrected p<0.001). No significant changes of ReHo were observed in the controls within 6 weeks (uncorrected p<0.1, no cluster threshold setting, surface connected theory). The changes of ReHo value were mildly correlated with improvements of clinical rating scales with age, gender, depression and anxiety severity as covariates. Conclusion: Our study suggested that differential modulations inside the default mode network probably were associated with remission of FEMDDPD symptoms after duloxetine therapy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.