Resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in predicting escitalopram treatment outcome in major depressive disorder
- 1Department of Radiology, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University , ,
- 2Beijing Key Laboratory of Intelligent Drug Research and Development for Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, National Center for Mental Disorders; Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University , ,
- 3State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology , ,
Abstract
Objective: To examine whether pretreatment resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of hippocampal subregions is associated with 12-week escitalopram treatment outcomes in major depressive disorder (MDD).
Methods: A total of 87 patients with MDD received 12 weeks of escitalopram monotherapy and underwent resting-state functional MRI before treatment. Based on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) score at week 12, patients were classified into the remission depression group (RD, n = 42) or the nonremission depression group (NRD, n = 45). Seed-based whole-brain rsFC analyses were performed using eight bilateral hippocampal subregions as seeds. Group differences in rsFC were examined, and exploratory logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were conducted to assess the discrimination of remission. Partial correlations between differential rsFC and the HAMD-17 reduction rate were calculated controlling for age, sex, and education level.
Results: Compared with NRD, RD showed higher pretreatment rsFC between the left hippocampal tail and the right inferior parietal lobule and lower rsFC between the right hippocampal body and the left middle occipital gyrus and between the right hippocampal tail and the right cuneus. An exploratory combined model integrating the three differential rsFC measures showed discrimination between the RD and NRD groups, with an area under the curve of 0.841 (95% confidence interval: 0.755–0.915). The HAMD-17 reduction rate was negatively associated with right hippocampal body–left middle occipital gyrus rsFC and right hippocampal tail–right cuneus rsFC, but positively associated with left hippocampal tail–right inferior parietal lobule rsFC.
Conclusion: Patterns of pretreatment rsFC involving the hippocampal body and tail and parietal and visual cortical regions were associated with 12-week escitalopram treatment outcomes in MDD. These connectivity measures may represent candidate imaging features for further investigation, although validation in larger independent samples is required.
Related
- Recurrent connectivity shapes spatial coding in hippocampal CA3 subregions
- Functional connectivity of anterior cingulate cortex subregions in suicidal ideation in major depression: circuit mechanisms, exploratory classification, and treatment-related changes.
- Reference-Gene Stability for RT-qPCR in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampal Subregions of the 5xFAD Mouse Brain
- Hippocampal and large-scale functional connectivity reorganization following freediving training, and relationships with episodic memory
- Distinct cortical networks associated with subregions of the hippocampal-entorhinal system in the first two years of human life
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026restingstate,
title = {{Resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in predicting escitalopram treatment outcome in major depressive disorder}},
author = {Fengxia Zhang and Xiaoya Li and Ling Zhang and Yuan Zhou and Jingjing Zhou and Yuan Feng and Gang Wang and Aihong Yu and Yun Wang},
journal = {Frontiers in psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1946797},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661943},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in predicting escitalopram treatment outcome in major depressive disorder
AU - Fengxia Zhang
AU - Xiaoya Li
AU - Ling Zhang
AU - Yuan Zhou
AU - Jingjing Zhou
AU - Yuan Feng
AU - Gang Wang
AU - Aihong Yu
AU - Yun Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
JO - Frontiers in psychiatry
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1946797
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661943
AB - Objective: To examine whether pretreatment resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of hippocampal subregions is associated with 12-week escitalopram treatment outcomes in major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: A total of 87 patients with MDD received 12 weeks of escitalopram monotherapy and underwent resting-state functional MRI before treatment. Based on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) score at week 12, patients were classified into the remission depression group (RD, n = 42) or the nonremission depression group (NRD, n = 45). Seed-based whole-brain rsFC analyses were performed using eight bilateral hippocampal subregions as seeds. Group differences in rsFC were examined, and exploratory logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were conducted to assess the discrimination of remission. Partial correlations between differential rsFC and the HAMD-17 reduction rate were calculated controlling for age, sex, and education level. Results: Compared with NRD, RD showed higher pretreatment rsFC between the left hippocampal tail and the right inferior parietal lobule and lower rsFC between the right hippocampal body and the left middle occipital gyrus and between the right hippocampal tail and the right cuneus. An exploratory combined model integrating the three differential rsFC measures showed discrimination between the RD and NRD groups, with an area under the curve of 0.841 (95% confidence interval: 0.755–0.915). The HAMD-17 reduction rate was negatively associated with right hippocampal body–left middle occipital gyrus rsFC and right hippocampal tail–right cuneus rsFC, but positively associated with left hippocampal tail–right inferior parietal lobule rsFC. Conclusion: Patterns of pretreatment rsFC involving the hippocampal body and tail and parietal and visual cortical regions were associated with 12-week escitalopram treatment outcomes in MDD. These connectivity measures may represent candidate imaging features for further investigation, although validation in larger independent samples is required.
SN - 1664-0640
ER -