Neuroelectrophysiological clinical exploration of reward expectation and sensitivity abnormalities in adolescent melancholic MDD
Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly heterogeneous, and melancholic MDD is featured by more severe symptoms and lower treatment response, yet its underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study included two experiments. Experiment 1...
Key Findings
Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly heterogeneous, and melancholic MDD is featured by more severe symptoms and lower treatment response, yet its underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study included two experiments. Experiment 1 recruited 91 adolescent MDD patients (45 mMDD, 46 NmMDD) and 40 healthy controls. Clinical scales and event-related potentials were used to detect SPN and RewP. Experiment 2 enrolled 30 adolescent mMDD patients receiving 2-week deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) targeting the medial prefrontal cortex. Clinical symptoms, ERP components and power spectral density were compared before and after intervention. Experiment 1 showed that the mMDD group exhibited significantly higher depression, anxiety, and anhedonia relative to the NmMDD group. Patients showing higher SPN and lower RewP amplitudes, and the mMDD group demonstrating lower RewP compared to the NmMDD group. In both patient groups, SPN was positively correlated with anhedonia (r = 0.437, p < 0.05), while RewP was negatively correlated with anhedonia (r = -0.520, p < 0.01). Experiment 2 showed that following the 2-week dTMS intervention, significant pre-post differences were observed in clinical symptoms, SPN and RewP amplitudes (p < 0.05). We also detected notable increases in delta-band and theta-band power at the Fz electrode (p < 0.05). Electrophysiological alterations linked to reward processing are closely correlated with adolescent mMDD. This open-label, uncontrolled study documented pre-post improvements in clinical symptoms and neuroelectrophysiological indices among participants who received mPFC-targeted dTMS. Given the absence of sham or waitlist controls, these changes cannot be conclusively linked to the neuromodulatory effects of dTMS.
Why This Matters for Body-Mind Practice
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Source
- Neuroelectrophysiological clinical exploration of reward expectation and sensitivity abnormalities in adolescent melancholic MDD. — Journal of affective disorders