Power Spectral Slope as a Novel Brain Functional Marker for Major Depressive Disorder.

Huimin Zhou, Kaini Qiao, Jingjing Zhou, Xuequan Zhu, Zhi Yang, Gang Wang, Yanyu Wang, Zhenxiang Zang

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Article in Biological psychiatry global open science, 2026. 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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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Left Cerebellar-Right Frontal Uncoupling in Female First-Episode Major Depressive Disorder: Synaptic Evidence From [CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026
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Authors and funding

8 authors.

Huimin ZhouSchool of Psychology, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, Shandong, China.

Kaini QiaoNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Jingjing ZhouNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Xuequan ZhuNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Zhi YangNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Gang WangNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Yanyu WangSchool of Psychology, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, Shandong, China.

Zhenxiang ZangNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a powerful tool to reveal disrupted brain activity in major depressive disorder (MDD), but most studies have focused solely on low-frequency functional fluctuations, ignoring the fact that brain activity is composed of both low-frequency and high-frequency fluctuations. Therefore, we applied a novel approach, namely the power spectral slope (PSS), which captures the characteristics of both low- and high-frequency fluctuations to evaluate brain activity in MDD. Methods: rs-fMRI data were collected from 109 patients with MDD (27.29 ± 7.11 years, 75 women) and 78 normal control participants (26.47 ± 6.19 years, 51 women). A subset of 52 patients with MDD also underwent rs-fMRI scanning after a 12-week antidepressant treatment (escitalopram/duloxetine). Both the baseline between-group comparison and follow-up within-group comparison were performed for PSS. A 2-sample Results: Patients with MDD showed significantly more negative PSS compared with normal control participants in the ventral striatum and temporal pole. After treatment, PSS in the ventral striatum increased significantly toward normalization, whereas the temporal pole's slope remained unchanged. No significant correlations were found between PSS and depression severity scores. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that MDD is characterized by more negative PSS in key affective regions. The normalization effect of ventral striatum spectral slope following antidepressant treatment suggests a region-specific response. Taken together, the findings suggest that PSS may serve as a novel brain functional marker for MDD.

Indexed as

fMRIFunctional markerMajor depressive disorderPower spectral slopeTemporal poleVentral striatum

Identifiers

PMID41321422

DOI10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100623

PMCPMC12657283

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