Biological vulnerability to depression: linked structural and functional brain network findings

Background Patients in recovery following episodes of major depressive disorder (MDD) remain highly vulnerable to future recurrence. Although psychological determinants of this risk are well established, little is known about associated biological mechanisms. Recent work has implicated the default mode network (DMN) in this vulnerability but specific hypotheses remain untested within the high risk, recovered state of MDD. Aims To test the hypothesis that there is excessive DMN functional connectivity during task performance within recovered-state MDD and to test for connected DMN cortical gyrification abnormalities. Method A multimodal structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, including task-based functional connectivity and cortical folding analysis, comparing 20 recovered-state patients with MDD with 20 matched healthy controls. Results The MDD group showed significant task-based DMN hyperconnectivity, associated with hypogynfication of key DMN regions (bilateral precuneus). Conclusions This is the first evidence of connected structural and functional DMN abnormalities in recovered-state MDD, supporting recent hypotheses on biological-level vulnerability.