Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31044001›Full record

ArticleChinese medicine2019

Brain connectomic associations with traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic classification of major depressive disorder: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

Lan-Ying Liu, Xiao-Pei Xu, Li-Yuan Luo, Chun-Qing Zhu, Ya-Ping Li, Pei-Rong Wang, Yuan-Yuan Zhang, Chun-Yu Yang, Hong-Tao Hou, Yu-Lin Cao and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Chinese medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Study on subtyping and Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment of depression based on machine learning and text mining.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. White Matter-Based Structural Brain Network of Major Depression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2021
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Lan-Ying Liu1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Xiao-Pei Xu2Department of Diagnostic Radiology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Li-Yuan Luo1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Chun-Qing Zhu1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Ya-Ping Li3Department of Internal Chinese Medicine, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Pei-Rong Wang1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Yuan-Yuan Zhang1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Chun-Yu Yang1Department of Psychiatry, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Hong-Tao Hou4Department of Radiology, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Yu-Lin Cao4Department of Radiology, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Gang Wang4Department of Radiology, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang China.
Edward S Hui2Department of Diagnostic Radiology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Zhang-Jin Zhang5School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.ORCID 0000-0002-8416-3426
Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province · CNUniversity of Hong Kong · HK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is highly heterogeneous in pathogenesis and manifestations. Further classification may help characterize its heterogeneity. We previously have shown differential metabolomic profiles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnostic subtypes of MDD. We further determined brain connectomic associations with TCM subtypes of MDD.

methodsIn this naturalistic study, 44 medication-free patients with a recurrent depressive episode were classified into liver qi stagnation (LQS, n = 26) and Heart and Spleen Deficiency (HSD, n = 18) subtypes according to TCM diagnosis. Healthy subjects (n = 28) were included as controls. Whole-brain white matter connectivity was analyzed on diffusion tensor imaging.

resultsThe LQS subtype showed significant differences in multiple network metrics of the angular gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, calcarine sulcus, and Heschl's gyrus compared to the other two groups. The HSD subtype had markedly greater regional connectivity of the insula, parahippocampal gyrus, and posterior cingulate gyrus than the other two groups, and microstructural abnormalities of the frontal medial orbital gyrus and middle temporal pole. The insular betweenness centrality was strongly inversely correlated with the severity of depression and dichotomized the two subtypes at the optimal cutoff value with acceptable sensitivity and specificity.

conclusionsThe LQS subtype is mainly characterized by aberrant connectivity of the audiovisual perception-related temporal-occipital network, whereas the HSD subtype is more closely associated with hyperconnectivity and microstructural abnormalities of the limbic-paralimbic network. Insular connectivity may serve a biomarker for TCM-based classification of depression.

Indexed as

ClassificationConnectomeDiffusion tensor imagingMajor depressive disorderTraditional Chinese medicine

Identifiers

PMID31044001
PMCPMC6460788
OpenAlexW2939027684

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.