Abnormal changes in functional connectivity between the amygdala and frontal regions are associated with depression in Alzheimer's disease.
PURPOSE
The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) of Alzheimer's disease patients with depression (D-AD) based on an amygdalar seed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).


METHODS
Twenty-one non-depressed AD (nD-AD) patients and 21 D-AD patients underwent rs-fMRI. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Neuropsychiatric Inventory were used to evaluate the severity of depression. The amygdala was used as the seed for FC analysis. The FC differences between the two groups were evaluated by two-sample t tests, and the correlation of FC changes with depressive severity was analyzed by Pearson correlational analysis.


RESULTS
Compared with the nD-AD patients, D-AD patients had increased FC values between the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex and decreased FC values among the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus.


CONCLUSION
These data suggest that abnormal amygdala-prefrontal FC may be an important characteristic of AD patients with depression.
['Guo|Zhongwei|Z|', 'Liu|Xiaozheng|X|', 'Xu|Songquan|S|', 'Hou|Hongtao|H|', 'Chen|Xingli|X|', 'Zhang|Zhenzhong|Z|', 'Chen|Wei|W|']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000544:Alzheimer Disease D000679:Amygdala D003863:Depression D005260:Female D005625:Frontal Lobe D006801:Humans D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D012720:Severity of Illness Index
Functional connectivity Amygdala Depression Alzheimer’s disease fMRI