Aberrant functional connectivity of multiple networks in first-episode adolescence-onset major depressive disorder

Motivation: The underlying mechanisms in adolescent-onset major depression disorder (AO-MDD) remains unclear with only few studies in small sample size. Goal(s): To investigate the alteration of functional connectivity (FC) in multiple networks in AO-MDD patients. Approach: Seed-based analysis was conducted to detect the FC between AO-MDD group and healthy controls (HCs) at the regional and subregional level. Results: Hypoconnectivity in AO-MDD was discovered in seeds including insula, amygdala, hippocampus, and their subregions which belong to salience network and affective network. The FC of the right insula and the left hippocampus correlated with the age of onset. Impact: Our findings provided a comprehensive description of the altered connectivity in multiple networks at regional and subregional levels in AO-MDD pathogenesis. We demonstrated how age of onset contributes to AO-MDD symptomatology.