Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40185707›Full record

ArticleTranslational psychiatry2025

Sex-specific habenular dysconnectivity in patients with late-life depression.

Ting Su, Ben Chen, Qin Liu, Yunheng Chen, Mingfeng Yang, Qiang Wang, Huarong Zhou, Xiaomei Zhong, Yuping Ning

Abstract read
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Article in Translational psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Ting Su *The Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Ben Chen *The Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Qin LiuThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Yunheng ChenThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Mingfeng YangThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Qiang WangThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Huarong ZhouThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiaomei ZhongThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China. lovlaugh@163.com.
Yuping NingThe Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China. ningjeny@126.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5727-2782

Funding

Guangzhou Science and Technology Program key projects 2023A03J0840
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There are significant sex differences in the prevalence, symptom presentation, treatment response and brain abnormalities of patients with late-life depression (LLD). The functional connectivity of the habenula has been associated with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairments in patients with LLD. However, sex differences in habenular functional connectivity patterns among LLD patients remain unclear. One hundred and fourteen patients with LLD and 75 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the present study. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to analyse the static and dynamic functional connectivity (sFC and dFC) of the habenula. There were significant interactions between diagnosis (LLD vs. HCs) and sex for the dFC of the left habenula with the left insula, precentral gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus and for the right habenula with the right middle temporal gyrus. Pairwise comparisons revealed a trend of HC males > HC females and LLD males < HC males for the connections between the left habenula and the left precentral gyrus, angular gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. Conversely, a trend of HC males < HC females and LLD males > HC males was found for the connections between the right habenula and right middle temporal pole. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction for the sFC of the right habenula with the right fusiform gyrus, with trends of HC males > HC females, LLD males < HC males, and LLD females > HC females. Regression analysis revealed that left habenular-left insular dFC was associated with long-delay memory in females and working memory in males; right habenular-right middle temporal pole dFC was associated with information processing speed in females. Sex moderated the relationships between cognitive function (global cognition, delay-recalled memory and working memory) and dFC between the left habenula and left insula. In conclusions, this study revealed sex-specific alterations in the functional connectivity patterns of the habenula in LLD patients, and these alterations were associated with various cognitive functions in a sex-specific manner. These findings provide a neurobiological basis for understanding sex differences in LLD patients.

Indexed as

Cerebral CortexDepressionHabenulaAgedCase-Control StudiesFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedNeural PathwaysSex CharacteristicsSex Factors

Identifiers

PMID40185707
PMCPMC11971314

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