Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have shown that major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by abnormal neural activity and connectivity. However, hemodynamic imaging techniques lack the temporal resolution needed to resolve the dynamics of brain mechanisms underlying MDD. Moreover, it is unclear whether putative abnormalities persist after remission. To address these gaps, we used microstate analysis to study resting-state brain activity in major depressive disorder (MDD). Electroencephalographic (EEG) “microstates” are canonical voltage topographies that reflect brief activations of components of resting-state brain networks. We used polarity-insensitive k-means clustering to segment resting-state high-density (128-channel) EEG data into microstates. Data from 79 healthy controls (HC), 63 individuals with MDD, and 30 individuals with remitted MDD (rMDD) were included. The groups produced similar sets of five microstates, including four widely-reported canonical microstates (A-D). The proportion of microstate D was decreased in MDD and rMDD compared to the HC group (Cohen’s d = 0.63 and 0.72, respectively) and the duration and occurrence of microstate D was reduced in the MDD group compared to the HC group (Cohen’s d = 0.43 and 0.58, respectively). Among the MDD group, proportion and duration of microstate D were negatively correlated with symptom severity (Spearman’s rho = −0.34 and −0.46, respectively). Finally, microstate transition probabilities were nonrandom and the MDD group, relative to the HC and the rMDD groups, exhibited multiple distinct transition probabilities, primarily involving microstates A and C. Our findings highlight both state and trait abnormalities in resting-state brain activity in MDD.
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MM: performed all analyses and drafted the first version of the paper. AEW: contributed to data analyses and interpretation, and provided revision and important intellectual content to the manuscript. SD, MLI, AR and MB: contributed to data collection and processing. MS: contributed to data interpretation, and provided revision and important intellectual content to the manuscript. DAP: designed the studies that contributed data, contributed to data interpretation, provided revision and important intellectual content to the manuscript, and provided funding. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. MM and DAP take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of any part of the work.
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Murphy, M., Whitton, A.E., Deccy, S. et al. Abnormalities in electroencephalographic microstates are state and trait markers of major depressive disorder. Neuropsychopharmacol. 45, 2030–2037 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-0749-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-0749-1
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