Structural and Functional Alterations of Substantia Nigra and Associations With Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Frontiers in Neurology

Qiang Xue¹  Shun Gong²  Gaoyi Li³  Wusong Tong⁴  Yu Song⁵  Songyu Chen⁵  Liang Gao⁵  Xianzhen Chen⁵  Chengbin Wang⁵  Jia Yin⁵  Jingrong Huang⁶  Mingxia Fan⁷  Yan Dong⁸ 

[1] Department of Neurosurgery, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China;Department of Neurosurgery, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, China;Department of Neurosurgery, People's Hospital of Putuo District, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China;Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Hospital, Shanghai, China;Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China;Psychology Honors Program, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States;Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China;Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital Clinical Medicine Scientific and Technical Innovation Park, Shanghai, China;

关键词: traumatic brain injury;    functional connectivity;    dopamine;    anxiety;    depression;    substantia nigra;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2022.719778

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundsAlthough there are a certain number of studies dedicated to the disturbances of the dopaminergic system induced by traumatic brain injury (TBI), the associations of abnormal dopaminergic systems with post-traumatic anxiety and depressive disorders and their underlying mechanisms have not been clarified yet. In the midbrain, dopaminergic neurons are mainly situated in the substantia nigra (SN) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Thus, we selected SN and VTA as regions of interest and performed a seed-based global correlation to evaluate the altered functional connectivity throughout the dopaminergic system post-TBI.MethodsThirty-three individuals with TBI and 21 healthy controls were recruited in the study. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were examined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. All MRI data were collected using a Siemens Prisma 3.0 Tesla MRI system. The volume of SN and the global functional connectivity of the SN and VTA were analyzed.ResultsIn the present study, patients with TBI reported more anxiety and depressive symptoms. More importantly, some structural and functional alterations, such as smaller SN and reduced functional connectivity in the left SN, were seen in individuals with TBI. Patients with TBI had smaller substantia nigra on both right and left sides, and the left substantia nigra was relatively small in contrast with the right one. Among these findings, functional connectivity between left SN and left angular gyrus was positively associated with post-traumatic anxiety symptoms and negatively associated with depressive symptoms.ConclusionsThe TBI causes leftward lateralization of structural and functional alterations in the substantia nigra. An impaired mesocortical functional connectivity might be implicated in post-traumatic anxiety and depression.

【 授权许可】

Unknown